UNI 


Q, 

ty 

(7 


SPEECHES,  POEMS, 


AND 


MISCELLANEOUS    WRITINGS, 


ON    SUBJECTS     CONNECTED    WITH 


TEMPERANCE 


AND 


THE     LIQUOR    TRAFFIC. 


BY 


CHARLES   JEWETT,  M.  D. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED    BY    JOHN    P.  JEWETT. 

No.    23    CORNHILL. 

1849. 


Entered,  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1849,  by 

CHARLES  JEWETT,  M.  D., 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE. 


THE  author  of  this  volume  has  recorded  on  its  pages 
the  honest  convictions  of  his  understanding,  relative  to 
a  great  question  of  practical  importance  to  individuals 
and  the  public.  The  opinions  and  sentiments  herein 
expressed  are  the  result  of  careful  observation  and  much 
reflection  during  a  period  of  more  than  twenty  years, 
the  last  ten  of  which  have  been  almost  exclusively  de- 
voted to  the  public  advocacy  of  the  Temperance  cause. 
This  work  is  given  to  the  public  with  an  earnest  desire 
that  the  perusal  of  its  pages  may  kindle  in  the  minds 
of  its  readers  an  undying  hatred  of  a  wicked  system, 
which  contributes,  more  than  any  other  evil  influence 
tolerated  among  us,  to  deprave  and  ruin  our  countrymen, 
and  to  disgrace  and  burden  society. 

Although  the  author  has  no  apology  to  offer  for  laying 
this  little  volume  before  the  public,  he  has  something 
to  say  relative  to  its  contents  ;  and  first  of  the  speeches. 

No  one  of  them  is  an  exact  copy,  in  all  its  parts,  of 
any  speech  I  have  ever  made.  The  first  three  of  the 
arrangement,  which  were  reported  by  Mr.  Rockwell, 
I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  prune  of  some  sentences, 
which  were  not  necessary  to  the  development  of 
the  argument  j  and  I  have  here  and  there  added  others, 
which,  in  my  judgment,  would  give  it  more  strength 


PREFACE. 


and  clearness.  The  other  discourses  I  have  reported 
from  memory,  and,  whether  more  or  less  able  than  I 
have  been  accustomed  to  make  them  when  addressing 
public  assemblies,  I  cannot  say.  Persons  who  have 
frequently  listened  to  me  can  better  judge,  and  there  are 
many  such  in  all  the  New  England  states,  except  Ver- 
mont. In  reporting  from  memory,  I  am  not  certain  but 
I  have  run  a  little  into  the  essay  style,  if  it  may  be 
proper  to  speak  of  style  in  connection  with  my  method 
of  expressing  thought. 

A  word  of  the  articles  in  verse.  While  laboring  to 
establish  in  the  minds  of  my  fellow-men  the  convictions 
of  my  own  understanding  in  relation  to  the  prevailing 
sin  and  miseries  of  intemperance,  I  have  sought  to  vary 
the  mode  of  instruction  from  time  to  time,  and  adapt  it 
to  the  character  and  condition  of  those  immediately 
before  or  around  me,  so  far  as  might  be  done  without 
sacrificing  the  great  principles  which  underlay  the 
whole  enterprise.  In  doing  this,  I  have  sometimes 
endeavored  to  associate  those  principles  or  truths  with 
poetic  thought,  and  a  diction  a  little  more  harmonious 
than  my  ordinary  prose. 

However  severely  my  attempts  at  verse  might  suffer 
from  a  rigid  criticism,  I  find  pleasure  in  the  belief  that 
they  have  sometimes  contributed  to  the  gratification  of 
those  who  love  the  cause  of  temperance,  and  who  dili- 
gently labor  for  its  advancement.  That  consideration 
shall  still  afford  me  comfort  even  though  some  keen 
dissector  of  words  and  sentences  should  undertake  to 
punish  me  for  my  presumption,  and  break  a  butterfly  upon 
the  critic's  wheel.  I  am  not  vain  enough  to  suppose 
that  I  have  any  claim  to  the  appellation  of  poet,  and 


PREFACE.  5 

shall  never  go  out  of  my  way  as  a  reformer,  or  spend 
an  hour  of  the  time  allotted  me  on  earth  in  efforts  to 
secure  even  a  sprig  of  that  laurel  which  belongs  to  the 
followers  of  the  Nine.  Others,  with  larger  gifts,  may 
write  their  names  on  the  face  of  the  world  so  legibly 
that  they  may  be  read  for  centuries  by  generations 
yet  to  come,  while  I  shall  thank  God  for  the  honor 
of  making  my  markj  if  that  mark  be  one  which  shall 
guide  future  travellers  in  the  ways  of  temperance  and 
happiness. 

The  articles  which  make  up  the  miscellaneous  de- 
partment of  this  work,  will,  I  fear,  have  little  interest  for 
those  who  are  not  actively  engaged  in  efforts  to  advance 
the  temperance  cause.  With  two  or  three  exceptions, 
they  are  either  letters  or  parts  of  letters  addressed  to 
gentlemen  connected  with  the  temperance  press,  and, 
though  intended  for  publication,  they  were  generally 
written  in  haste  and  amid  the  pressure  of  many  cares. 
Such  as  they  are,  they  express  the  opinions  of  the  writer 
on  practical  questions  connected  with  the  enterprise. 
If  the  language  employed  throughout  the  work  to  ex- 
press my  opinions  of  the  rum  traffic,  and  of  the  vileness 
and  inhumanity  of  those  engaged  in  it,  should  be  con- 
sidered by  some  as  unwarrantably  harsh,  I  shall  not  be 
surprised ;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  I  will,  with  perfect 
frankness,  assure  the  reader  that  its  employment  was 
not  a  slip  of  the  tongue  or  the  pen.  At  the  risk  of  my 
character  for  amiability,  I  will  confess  that  my  feelings 
on  the  subject  are  much  stronger  than  any  language  I 
have  employed. 

It  is  quite  probable  that  those  who  may  peruse  the 
following  discourses  may  find  here  and  there  an  illustra- 
1* 


PREFACE. 


tion  employed,  with  which  they  may  have  become 
familiar  through  other  channels ;  and,  without  a  word  of 
explanation,  they  might  be  led  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  author  had  employed  the  labor  of  other  minds  with- 
out due  credit.  It  is  proper,  therefore,  that  I  should, 
in  self-defence,  declare  that  every  illustration  employed 
in  the  discourses,  which  is  not  duly  credited  to  some 
fellow-laborer,  is  my  own,  whether  good  or  bad.  If 
others  have  employed  them,  without  the  proper  refer- 
ence to  their  origin,  let  the  charge  of  plagiarism  rest 
where  it  belongs. 

It  was  my  intention  to  add  to  this  work  a  dis- 
course on  the  influence  of  intoxicating  drinks  upon  the 
physical  constitution  of  man.  I  could  not.  however, 
secure  the  completion,  in  time,  of  such  diagrams  as 
would  be  necessary  to  make  the  subject  clear  to  the 
minds  of  those  who  have  never  studied  the  anatomy  of 
the  human  body.  I  must,  therefore,  defer  the  publica- 
tion of  my  thoughts,  on  that  subject,  to  some  future 
period. 

With  these  explanatory  remarks,  I  commit  this  little 
volume  to  the  judgment  of  the  public  ;  and,  in  doing  so, 
I  will  say  to  that  public,  concerning  the  book,  as  I 
have  often  said  of  a  dose  of  medicine  to  a  sick  friend, 
"  If  you  can  only  manage  to  swallow  it,  I  believe  it  will 
do  you  good." 

CHARLES  JEWETT. 

June  15,  1849. 


CONTENTS. 


SPEECHES. 

THE  LAW  AND  TENDENCIES  OP  ARTIFICIAL  APPETITES. — A  Dis- 
course delivered  at  Bloomfield,  Connecticut,  December  24, 
1848.  Reported,  phonographically,  by  H.  E.  Rockwell, 9 

THE  WARFARE  OP  THE  TRAFFIC  IN  INTOXICATING  DRINKS  ON  ALL 
USEFUL  TRADES  AND  OCCUPATIONS.  —  A  Discourse  delivered  at 
Bloomfield,  Connecticut,  December  29,  1848.  Reported,  phon- 
ographically, by  H.  E.  Rockwell, 26 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  EVIL  OF  INTEMPERANCE,  AS  SEEN  IN  ITS 
EFFECTS  ON  COMMUNITIES,  STATES,  AND  NATIONS.  —  A  Discourse 
delivered  at  Manchester,  Connecticut,  December  31, 1848.  Re- 
ported, phonographically,  by  H.  E.  Rockwell, 47 

INTEMPERANCE  AS  A  YICE  OF  INDIVIDUAL  MAN. — Reported  by 
the  author,  from  memory, 70 

PROSPECTIVE  RESULTS  OF  THE  TRAFFIC  IN  INTOXICATING  DRINKS. 

—  Reported  by  the  author,  from  memory, 80 

PROPS  OF  THE  RUM  TRAFFIC,  AND  WEAPONS  OF  THE  ENEMY, 90 

MEANS  FOR  REMOVING  THE  CURSE  OF  INTEMPERANCE.  —  A  Dis- 
course delivered  at  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  in  January,  184?. 
— Reported  by  the  author,  from  memory 103 


FUGITIVE   PIECES,  IN  VERSE. 

Extracts  from  a  Poem  delivered  before  the  Massachusetts  Legis- 
lative Temperance  Society, 127 

Fourteen  O'clock 132 

Apostrophe  to  the  Merrimack, 135 

A  Cotton  Speculation 137 

The  Rum-seller's  and  Drunkard's  Lamentation, 140 


8 


CONTENTS. 


Extract  from  an  Address  to  Retailers, 14j> 

Crack  Up,  Crack  Up, 145 

Strangulation,  or  the  Distiller's  Disaster, % 148 


SELECTIONS  FROM  CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE 
PRESS. 

A  Brief  Plan  of  a  Temperance  Campaign, 151 

The  Rum-seller's  Remedy, 154 

Injustice  to  Reformers, 156 

Constitutionality  of  the  License  Law.  —  A  Dream, 157 

Glorious  News, 160 

Better  Tools  wanted, 164 

Inconsistencies  of  the  Professed  Friends  of  Temperance, 166 

Temperance  Papers, 168 

"  Temperance  Sugar  Ale," 170 

Buying  off  Rum-sellers, 171 

Drinking  Saloons, 172 

Preliminary  Exercises  in  Temperance  Meetings, 173 

In  Trouble, 174 

Gambling  and  Intemperance, 176 

An  Amusing  Scene 176 

A  Tribute  to  Massachusetts.  —  Prophecy, 178 

Boston  Rum  in  the  Country,  and  Country  Rum-sellers  in  Boston, . .  181 
A  Question  answered  —  Results  predicted  —  Motives  presented  — 

and  Advice  Given 183 

Washingtonian  Hall, 186 

Party  and  Sectarian  Jealousies, 187 

The  Rum-selling  Professor  of  Christianity, 188 

Our  Main  Support  in  Cities, 188 

Legislative  Wisdom, 189 

Alcohol  as  a  Medicine, 190 

The  Real  Source  of  Mischief, 195 

Occasional  and  Startling  Effects  of  the  Traffic.  —  A  Spur  to  Action, .  198 

A  Distiller's  Consolation, 199 

A  Visit  to  the  Spirits  in  Prison, 201 


THE  LAW  AND  TENDENCIES  OF  ARTIFICIAL 
APPETITES. 


A  DISCOURSE  DELIVERED  AT  BLOOMFIELD,  CONNECTICUT. 
DECEMBER  24,  1848. 

KEPORTED    PHONOGRAPHICALLY,    BY   II.    E.    ROCKWELL. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

WARNINGS,  similar  to  that  uttered  in  the  song  to  which  we 
have  just  listened,  have  been,  for  the  last  thirty  years  at  least, 
continually  falling  upon  our  ears  and  the  ears  of  our  fellow 
men.  Good  men,  widowed  and  wretched  women,  neglected, 
abused,  and  suffering  children,  —  ah!  and  even  the  drunkard 
himself,  —  have  unitedly  warned  us  against  the  terrible  influ 
ences  of  intoxicating  poisons ;  and  yet  they  are  vended  ani 
drank  in  our  midst,  as  though  they  were  perfectly  harmlesi. 
Those  very  influences  and  instrumentalities  which  have  filled 
the  earth  with  crime  and  misery,  are  permitted  still  to  operate 
here  at  your  very  doors,  and  that  under  the  sanction  of  the 
laws  of  Connecticut.  The  fruits  of  God's  earth  are,  in  this 
very  town,  converted  into  poison  for  man,  and  thoughtless  and 
wicked  men  are  busily  engaged  iri  transporting  it  to  and  fro, 
and  presenting  it  to  the  lips  of  their  neighbors  and  fellow- 
citizens.  The  columns  of  our  public  journals  are  filled  with 
the  most  heart-rending  details  of  this  terrible  system,  with 
which,  as  friends  of  temperance,  we  are  warring  ;  and  yet  it 
does  not  deter  men  from  a  vigorous  and  active  support  of 
that  system.  The  press,  the  pulpit,  and  injured  and  suffering 

J84522 


10  THE    LAW    AND    TENDENCIES    OF 

thousands,  cry  out  against  this  modern  Moloch  ;  and  yet  our 
sons  and  our  daughters  are,  by  thousands,  being  immolated 
upon  its  bloody  altars. 

Why  is  this  evil  perpetuated  in  our  midst  ?  Why,  in  the 
face  of  such  damning  results,  is  the  system  producing  them 
tolerated  ? 

All  men  affect  to  deplore  the  evil  of  drunkenness,  and  its 
attendant  miseries.  There  is  now  no  doubt  but  community 
might  safely  and  profitably  dispense  with  the  whole  system 
which  has  proved  so  destructive  to  our  interests  and  happiness 
in  times  past.  Why,  then,  I  ask  again,  is  the  state  made  to 
groan  under  its  influence  ?  The  question  would  be  variously 
answered  by  different  individuals,  and  no  doubt  very  many 
potent  causes  are  operating  together  to  perpetuate  this  curse 
among  us.  Among  them  all,  however,  few  are  more  potent 
than  the  one  to  which  I  propose,  this  evening,  to  call  your 
attention,  viz.,  the  loose  and  unsound  notions  entertained, 
by  the  mass  of  our  fellow-men,  relative  to  the  nature,  philos- 
ophy, and  inevitable  tendencies  of  unnatural  or  artificial 
appetites. 

There  are  many  well  marked  distinctions  between  appetites 
which  are  natural  to  our  race  and  those  artificial  ones  which 
may  be  formed  by  the  continued  use  of  substances  in  them- 
selves poisonous,  and  always  injurious  in  a  state  of  health. 

The  law  of  artificial  appetites  is  a  law  of  increase.  Their 
demand  is  for  more,  more  ;  give,  give,  until  we  drop  into  our 
graves.  It  is  this  law  which,  when  a  man  has  heedlessly 
formed  an  appetite  for  intoxicating  stimulants,  drags  him  on 
and  down,  through  a  course  of  indescribable  sufferings,  to  a 
grave  of  infamy.  Now,  there  is  no  such  tendency  in  natural 
appetites  for  food  or  drink,  though  indulged  to  perfect  satiety, 
and  through  the  pei'iod  of  a  long  life.  They  are,  almost  with- 
out exception,  as  strong  when  first  developed  as  they  can  be 
rendered,  in  a  state  of  health,  at  any  subsequent  period  of  the 
life  of  the  individual.  Let  me  illustrate  this  in  a  familiar  way. 
I  see  before  me,  in  the  congregation,  a  number  of  very  young 


ARTIFICIAL   APPETITES.  11 

persons.  Now,  suppose  you  take  one  of  these  children  of 
four  years  of  age,  and,  in  the  season  when  that  fruit  may  be 
had,  give  him  a  plate  of  strawberries  and  cream.  The  child 
will  eat  them  with  a  keen  relish,  as  keen  as  he  will  ever  do  at 
any  subsequent  period,  though  he  were  fed  on  that  delicious 
fruit  for  life.  Give  to  one  of  these  lads  of  six  years  a  fine  apple, 
and  observe  with  what  evident  gusto  he  will  dispose  of  it. 
Now,  you  may  place  at  his  elbow  a  basket  of  choice  apples 
during  every  day  of  his  future  life,  and  the  appetite  for  apples 
will  not  increase.  He  will  not  eat  one  to-day,  two  to-morrow, 
three  the  next  day,  and  so  on,  consuming  larger  and  still  larger 
quantities  of  the  fruit  daily,  until  he  shall  gorge  himself  with 
apples,  and,  oppressed  with  the  load,  lie  down,  like  a  brute, 
and  wallow  in  the  street. 

Such  results  do  not  follow  the  use  of  those  delicious  fruits 
with  which  we  may,  with  proper  effort,  supply  ourselves  so 
abundantly  in  this  favored  land.  The  same  is  true  in  relation 
to  every  proper  article  of  food  or  drink.  Water  is  to  the 
thirsty  a  great  luxury.  Few  articles  ever  pass  the  lips  of  men, 
whose  appetites  are  not  depraved  by  improper  indulgence, 
which  afford  more  pleasure  than  water,  when  that  article  is 
really  demanded.  With  what  eagerness  did  you  and  I,  Mr. 
President,  in  our  boyhood,  run  to  the  well,  when  wearied  with 
childish  sports  and  athirst ;  and  when  "  the  old  oaken  bucket " 
was,  in  the  language  of  the  poet,  "  poised  on  the  curb,  and 
inclined  to  our  lips,"  and  we  felt  the  cool  water  splashing  on 
our  naked  feet,  O,  then  we  could  have  testified  to  the  excellence 
of  that  blessed  gift  of  God,  the  emblem  of  purity,  and  type  of 
that  fountain  of  joy  which  shall  forever  spring  up  in  the  souls 
of  the  blessed.  Yet,  great  as  is  the  pleasure  with  which, 
when  athirst,  we  receive  pure  cold  water,  the  desire  for  it  is 
not  increased  by  continued  indulgence  from  infancy  to  three- 
score years  and  ten.  We  do  not  find  men  drinking  a  pint  to- 
day, a  quart  to-morrow,  and  so  on,  increasing,  until,  urged  on 
by  insatiable  thirst,  they  suck  on  to  the  spout  of  the  pump,  and 
there  remain  till,  like  a  gorged  leech,  they  can  swallow  no 


12  THE    LAW    AND    TENDENCIES    OF 

more,  and  then  roll  away  into  the  gutter.  This  is  not  the  law 
of  that  appetite  which  craves  water  ;  but,  gentlemen,  is  it  not 
the  law  of  that  appetite  which  calls  for  gin  ? 

All  artificial  appetites  are  governed  by  the  same  law. 
Those  which  crave  opium  as  a  stimulus,  or  tobacco,  or 
any  other  narcotic  substance,  show  the  controlling  influence 
of  this  law  of  increase  in  a  degree  scarcely  less  than  that 
which  can  be  satisfied  only  with  the  fiery  product  of  the  still. 
1  speak  of  tobacco  ;  but  le.t  me  not  be  misunderstood.  I 
would  not  proscribe  the  use  of  tobacco  on  the  same  ground 
upon  which  I  would  condemn  the  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants. 
I  have  never  known  an  individual  led  to  the  commission  of 
crime  by  an  extra  Havana,  or  by  laboring  too  industriously  at 
what  would  seem  the  peculiar  business  of  ruminating  animals. 
Pig-tail  or  old  Cavendish,  though  they  induce  a  filthy  habit,  and 
impair  the  health  of  the  consumer,  especially  of  the  nervous 
system,  do  not  destroy  the  moral  sense,  alienate  or  annihilate 
the  social  affections,  inflame  the  passions,  and  impel  an 
individual,  —  as  do  intoxicating  drinks,  —  to  kick  his  wife  and 
children  out  of  doors,  or  imbrue  his  hands  in  their  blood. 
These  are  results  peculiar  to  the  use  of  those  articles  which 
sti7nulate  the  system  to  a  high  degree  before  their  narcotic  or 
sedative  effect  is  experienced.  I  have  said  that  the  use  of 
tobacco  does  not,  like  intoxicating  drinks,  annihilate  the  social 
affections;  but  I  have  no  doubt  they  have  often  impaired 
them,  for,  in  my  opinipn,  a  wife  must  have  Job-like  patience 
who  can  have  her  floor  or  carpets  daily  bespattered  with  the 
liquid  extract  of  a  nauseous  drug,  and  not  sometimes  have  her 
indignation  kindled  by  such  a  perpetual  imposition.  [Laughter 
and  a  little  nervousness  in  certain  parts  of  the  house.] 

Mr.  President,  I  hope  that  no  gentleman  present,  who  in- 
dulges himself  in  the  use  of  the  weed,  will  accuse  me  of 
attempting  to  excite  an  insurrection  in  his  household,  for  1 
assure  him  nothing  is  further  from  my  purpose.  I  refer  to 
the  use  of  tobacco  by  way  of  illustration,  and  because  the 
appetite  for  it,  when  created,  obeys  the  same  law  of  increase 


ARTIFICIAL   APPETITES.  13 

as  that  for  alcoholic  stimulants.  If  incidental  reference  to  the 
use  of  tobacco,  in  any  of  the  various  modes  in  which  it  is 
employed,  shall  have  the  effect  to  restrain  the  young  present 
from  that  species  of  slavery  to  which  I  was  at  one  period  of 
my  life  subjected,  I  shall  rejoice  in  having  been  able  to  prevent 
so  many  palpitations  of  the  heart  and  cases  of  disordered 
nerves,  far  more  than  I  should  to  be  able  to  cure  them  when 
created. 

To  the  view  I  have  taken  of  the  distinction  between  natural 
and  artificial  appetites,  it  may  be  objected  that  natural  ap- 
petites, when  improperly  indulged,  lead  to  excess,  as  well  as 
those  which  are  artificial ;  that  we  have  gluttons  as  well  as 
drunkards ;  and  that  the  desire  for  food  is  a  natural  one.  To 
this  I  reply,  that  men  in  a  state  of  health  rarely  become  glut- 
tons in  the  use  of  proper  food.  That  the  stimulating  con- 
diments which  are  too  commonly  added  to  food  may  create  an 
inordinate  appetite,  and  lead  to  excess,  I  admit ;  but  no  man 
becomes  a  glutton  by  the  use  of  plain-dressed  meats,  bread, 
milk,  vegetables,  fruits,  &c.  The  appetite  may  be  daily 
satiated,  but  it  is  only  in  cases  of  bodily  infirmity  or  disease 
that  purely  natural  appetites  become  uncontrollable.  And, 
furthermore,  you  will  find,  in  the  case  of  almost  every  glutton, 
that  he  became  so,  not  only  by  the  use  of  stimulating  articles 
mixed  with  his  food,  but  that  he  was  accustomed  to  the  use 
of  alcoholic  stimulants.  Aldermen  whose  physical  proportions 
are  of  the  Falstaff  stamp,  generally  consume  "  sack  and 
sugar,"  as  well  as  "  capons  "  and  turtle-soup. 

Here,  Mr.  President,  I  take  leave,  for  the  present,  of  this 
branch  of  my  subject,  and  shall  now,  for  a  few  moments, 
direct  your  attention  to  another  peculiarity  or  characteristic  of 
artificial  appetites.  They  seem  to  disqualify  the  individual 
subjected  to  their  influence  for  sound  reasoning  on  this  one 
subject.  I  have  met  with  many  men  of  strong  intellects  who 
were  under  the  influence  of  unnatural  appetites  ;  and,  while 
conversing  with  them  on  other  subjects,  I  have  been  led  to 
admire  the  clearness  of  their  logic,  and  the  ingenuity  and 
2 


14  THE    LAW   AND   TENDENCIES    OF 

directness  with  which  they  would  arrive  at  sound  conclusions 
from  given  premises ;  but-  when,  in  the  course  of  perhaps  a 
lengthy  conversation,  their  unnatural  appetite  has  become  the 
subject  of  discussion,  I  have  been  surprised  to  see  how  soon 
their  logic  went  overboard. 

I  doubt  whether  it  be  in  the  power  of  the  strongest  intellect 
to  reason  as  soundly  in  relation  to  an  unnatural  appetite,  to 
which  the  individual  has  become  subject,  as  upon  other  mat- 
ters. At  any  rate,  I  have  never  met  with  such  a  one.  They 
will  admit  that  the  indulgence  of  the  appetite  they  have  formed 
is  generally  injurious,  and  perhaps  dangerous ;  but  there  is  some- 
thing peculiar  in  their  constitution  or  circumstances  which 
renders  the  indulgence  comparatively  harmless,  or  quite 
necessary,  in  their  case.  Its  indulgence,  they  will  allow, 
leads  to  excess  in  most  cases ;  but,  nevertheless,  they  can  man- 
age to  indulge,  and  yet  keep  within  the  bounds  of  reason ; 
theirs  is  an  exception  to  the  general  rule  ;  their  tempera- 
ment is  very  peculiar ;  and  so  on,  to  the  extreme  of  folly.  A 
well  educated  spaniel  puppy  ought  to  be  able  to  use  better 
logic  than  is  often  exhibited  by  men  of  talent  and  extensive 
intellectual  acquirements.  They  are  under  a  cloud  on  one 
subject.  They  are  spell-bound  ;  a  sort  of  monomania  has 
taken  possession  of  them,  —  not  to  say  a  devil. 

You  have  doubtless  heard  of  the  good  old  lady  who  had 
been  an  extravagant  consumer  of  snuff  for  many  years,  and 
who,  when  urged  to  break  the  habit  on  account  of  its  alleged 
tendency  to  injure  the  voice,  exclaimed,  with  a  peculiar  nasal 
twang,  [the  doctor  imitated  it  ~by  compressing  the  nasal  pas- 
sages with  his  thumb  and  finger ',]  "  I  do-'t  believe  a  si-gle 
word  of  it,  for  I  h-ab  took  snuff  for  twe-ty  years,  and  my 
voice  is  chest  as  clear  now  as  it  was  whe-d  I  commed-ced." 
The  good  lady  was  mistaken.  She  could  neither  hear  nor  rea- 
son correctly  in  relation  to  snuff  and  its  influences.  Had  you 
consulted  her  on  other  subjects,  I  doubt  not  but  she  might 
have  exhibited  powers  of  observation  and  reason  quite  respec- 
table. Observe  a  young  man  of  twenty  or  twenty-five,  who 


ARTIFICIAL   APPETITES.  15 

indulges  in  an  occasional  glass  of  wine,  and  perhaps  something 
a  little  stronger,  and  who  begins  to  feel,  at  times,  a  strong 
desire  for  stimulants.  His  sister,  of  sixteen,  it  may  be,  is 
seen  by  him  to  dip  the  extremities  of  her  fingers  in  grand- 
mother's snuff-box,  and  he  will  be  very  likely  to  feel  and 
express  some  anxiety  lest  that  dear  sister  should  now,  in  her 
very  youth,  become  addicted  to  the  slavish  and  filthy  habit 
of  snuff-taking.  He  warns  her  of  the  danger,  and  when  she 
asserts  her  intention  to  take  but  very  little,  and  that  but  "  oc- 
casionally," and  denies  the  possibility  of  her  becoming  enslaved 
to  the  habit,  like  grandmother,  you  will  hear  him  at  once 
assuring  her  that,  if  she  persists  in  tampering  with  the  stuff, 
the  formation  of  an  unnatural  appetite  is  inevitable  :  that  all 
inveterate  consumers  of  the  article  commenced  just  as  she  is 
commencing ;  and  that  the  appetite  was  formed  contrary  to 
their  expectation,  and  in  spite  of  innumerable  resolves  against  it. 
He  reasons  soundly  in  relation  to  the  matter  of  his  sister's 
danger,  and  the  nature  and  tendency  of  a  practice  in  which  she 
is  beginning  to  indulge.  But  will  he  manifest  the  same  good 
sense  and  acuteness  in  relation  to  his  own  practices  ?  Let  us 
see.  What  have  you  in  that  glass,  young  man  ?  "  A  little 
wine,"  is  the  answer ;  or  it  may  be  some  brandy  and  water, 
or  whiskey  punch.  But,  young  man,  do  you  know  that  the 
use  of  that  article  tends  to  the  production  of  an  unnatural 
appetite,  so  fierce  and  insatiable  in  its  nature  that  it  has  often 
overcome  the  will  of  the  strongest  men,  and  dragged  them 
down  to  penury,  disgrace,  and  untimely  graves  ?  And  do 
you  not  fear  that  such  may  be  the  result  in  your  case,  if  you 
persist  in  using  it  ?  The  case  now  is  exactly  parallel  to  that 
of  his  sister,  and  he  reasoned  correctly  in  hers ;  but  will  he 
in  his  own  ?  O,  it  is  melancholy  to  hear  him  reply,  "  Pshaw  ! 
a  man  is  a  fool  who  cannot  drink  a  glass  of  wine  or  brandy 
occasionally,  and  yet  govern  his  appetites.  Do  not  give  your- 
self any  uneasiness  on  my  account.  I  know  when  I  have  taken 
enough.  I  can  drink,  or,  if  I  please,  I  can  let  it  alone." 
Mr.  President,  when  I  hear  such  language  in  the  mouth  of 


16  THE    L4VV   AND   TENDENCIES    OF 

an  individual,  young  or  old,  I  believe,  without  furthei  evidence, 
one  half  of  that  last  assertion.  I  believe  he  "  can  drink? 
and  I  may  believe  the  other  half,  that  he  "  can  let  it  alone," 
after  he  has  tried  the  experiment.  Until  then,  I  am  sceptical 
on  that  point.  Such  language  as  I  have  just  quoted  is  daily 
tittered  by  thousands  of  our  young  men,  even  in  this,  so  called, 
"  land  of  steady  habits  ; "  and  it  bears  painful  testimony  to 
their  want  of  instruction  on  the  subject  to  which  I  am  directing 
your  attention.  When  I  reached  this  village,  yesterday  after- 
noon, I  had  occasion  to  stop  at  the  public  house  across  the 
way.  I  there  saw  a  fine,  intelligent-looking  young  man  walk 
into  the  bar-room  from  another  room  adjoining,  call  for  three 
glasses  of  a  compound  of  which  intoxicating  poison  is  the 
principal  ingredient,  and  bear  it  away  with  him  to  the  room 
from  which  he  had  entered.  Soon  after,  he  again  came  out, 
and  obtained  a  further  supply.  Who  were  in  the  room  to 
which  he  carried  his  poisonous  drinks  I  know  not.  I  sin- 
cerely hope,  ladies,  for  the  honor  of  your  sex,  that  ladies  con- 
stituted no  part  of  the  company.  I  was  in  that  case,  as  I  always 
am  in  similar  cases,  pained  exceedingly  to  see  that  fine-look- 
ing young  man  going  like  an  ox  to  the  slaughter.  "  O," 
thought  I,  "  if  you  could  but  understand  to  what  a  tremendous 
power  you  are  subjecting  yourself,  you  would  pause  before 
you  took  another  step  in  that  direction."  Impress  that  young 
man  with  a  just  sense  of  the  dangers  which  surround  the 
course  he  is  pursuing,  of  the  inevitable  tendency  and  over- 
whelming power  of  the  unnatural  appetite  he  is  forming,  and 
he  would  no  more  touch  the  accursed  poison  than  he  would 
thrust  his  hand  into  the  fire. 

But  why,  we  may  be  asked,  may  not  an  individual,  when 
he  discovers  the  fact  that  his  appetite  for  stimulants  has  become 
strong,  —  why  may  he  not  then  call  to  his  aid  his  reason  and  his 
will,  and  put  his  enemy  at  once  under  his  feet  ?  He  may 
and  will  be  successful  in  such  an  effort,  if  he  make  the  dis- 
covery before  his  will  or  resolution  is  essentially  broken  down. 
Thousands  of  reformed  men,  scattered  over  the  lard,  can 


ARTIFIC  AL    APPETITES.  17 

attest  to  the  practicability  of  such  an  undertaking.     It  is  well, 
however,  that  the  real  cause  of  the  difficulty  be  understood. 

General  debility  of  the  body,  though  often  attended  with 
great  strength  and  clearness  of  intellect,  is  always  accom- 
panied with  extreme  feebleness  of  resolution  or  will.  Espe- 
cially is  this  the  case  where  the  stomach  is  the  primary  seat 
of  the  disease,  or  has  been  early  and  severely  affected  by  it. 
Acute  observers  have  noticed  this  fact  centuries  ago.  The 
great  poet  and  dramatist  of  England,  —  I  might  say  of  the 
world,  rather,  —  saw  the  fact  clearly,  and  has  given  us  a  fine 
illustration  of  the  subject  in  one  of  his  tragedies.  You  will 
recollect  that,  in  the  tragedy  of  Julius  Caesar,  Cassius  is  at  one 
time  represented  as  laboring  very  industriously  and  ingeniously 
to  draw  Brutus  into  the  conspiracy  to  take  the  life  of  Caesar. 
To  secure  his  object,  he  deemed  it  important  to  convince 
Brutus  that  the  tyrant  was  not  a  man  of  such  unfaltering 
strength  of  purpose  as  he  seemed  to  suppose,  and  as  the  world 
generally  gave  him  credit  for.  He  proceeds  to  relate  how 
Caesar,  after  having  challenged  him  to  swim  with  him  the 
Tiber,  gave  out  in  the  attempt,  and  lustily  roared  for  help,  and 
how  that  he  (Cassius)  was  compelled  to  bear  out "  the  tired 
Caesar"  on  his  shoulders  ;  after  which  he  adds, 

"  He  had  a  fever  when  he  was  in  Spain, 
And,  when  the  fit  was  on  him,  I  did  mark 
How  he  did  shake :  'tis  true,  this  god  did  shake ! 
His  coward  lips  did  from  their  color  fly ; 
And  that  same  eye,  whose  bend  doth  awe  the  world, 
Did  lose  his  lustre :  I  did  hear  him  groan ; 
Ay,  and  that  tongue  of  his,  that  bade  the  Romans 
Mark  him,  and  write  his  speeches  in  their  books, 
Alas  !  it  cried,  Give  me  some  drink,  Titinius, 
As  a  sick  girl.     Ye  gods,  it  doth  amaze  me, 
A  man  of  such  a  feeble  temper  [resolution  or  will]  should 
So  get  the  start  of  this  majestic  world, 
And  bear  the  palm  alone." 

This,  on  the  part  of  Cassius,  was  very  ingenious,  but  equal- 
ly fallacious.      To    prove   Caesar    really  a  weak  man,  and 
2*      ' 


THE    L\W   AND   TENDENCIES    OF 

irresolute  of  purpose,  something  more  was  necessary  than  to 
prove  that  he  shook  during  the  cold  fit  of  an  ague,  or  feebly 
exclaimed,  "Give  me  some  drink,"  while  under  the  debilitating 
effects  of  disease.  There  never  lived  a  man  so  firm  of  nerve 
or  purpose  but  that  he  would  shake  and  utter  feeble  exclama- 
tions under  the  same  circumstances.  How  irresolute  is  a  sea- 
sick man  !  Were  you  to  declare  your  purpose  to  throw  him 
overboard,  and  really  set  about  it,  he  would  scarcely  resist 
you.  Had  the  surgeons  of  the  American  and  Mexican  armies 
given  to  each  officer  and  soldier,  thirty  minutes  before  the  com- 
mencement of  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  a  tablespoonful  of  a 
pretty  strong  solution  of  tartar  emetic,  there  would  have  been 
very  little  blood  spilled  on  that  occasion.  A  score  of  old 
ladies,  armed  with  broomsticks,  might  have  driven  both  armies 
off  the  ground,  or  at  least  kept  them  at  bay.  I  have  heard 
many  men  of  iron  nerve  and  energy,  when  well,  whine  like 
children  in  the  sick  room,  when  under  the  influence  of  disease 
in  which  the  stomach  was  much  involved,  and  where,  con- 
sequently, the  nervous  system  was  unstrung  or  enfeebled. 

Now,  what  is  the  condition  of  the  drunkard  ?  His  physical 
constitution  is  impaired,  and  his  stomach  in  a  state  of  disease 
from  the  fiery  draughts  he  is  daily  swallowing.  His  nervous 
system  is  disordered,  and  when  not  under  the  immediate 
influence  of  stimulants,  he  is  in  precisely  that  condition  in 
which  irresolution  or  feebleness  of  purpose  is  to  be  expected. 
T  marvel  that  any  man,  under  such  circumstances,  even  with 
all  the  support  which  Washingtonian  sympathy  and  effort  can 
give,  has  ever  been  able  to  break  the  chain  that  for  years  had 
bound  him  ;  and  you  will  find  that  those  who  have  stood  firm, 
and  still  adhere  to  their  principles  and  their  pledge,  were 
originally  men  of  uncommon  resolution  or  firmness  of  nerve. 
Let  our  young  men,  who  are  beginning  to  tamper  with  the  cup, 
understand  this,  and  be  assured  that,  in  creating  this  unnatural 
appetite,  they  will  inevitably  derange  their  nervous  systems, 
disorder  the  functions  of  the  stomach,  and  thus  enfeeble  their 
resolution  —  the  very  power  on  which  they  rely  to  escape 


ARTIFICIAL    APPETITES.  19 

from  the  pit  into  which  they  are  venturing.  Let  them  know, 
that  they  are  nursing  in  their  constitutions  a  very  anaconda, 
which  will  finally  crush  them  in  its  folds.  Go,  young  man, 
and  talk  with  a  drunkard  in  his  sober  moments,  as  I  have 
done,  and  hear  him  declare  how  very  many  times  he  has 
resolved  he  would  never  drink  more,  and  how,  as  often,  such 
resolutions  have  been  broken.  See  the  tear  of  regret  coursing 
down  his  cheeks,  and  hear  him,  as  I  have  often  done,  declare 
that  he  would  give  worlds,  did  he  possess  them,  if  he  could 
dislodge  the  fiend  that  he  has  nourished  within.  Hear  him 
utter  the  melancholy  declaration  that  it  is  too  late  for  him ; 
that  he  has  no  longer  the  strength  of  purpose  or  resolution  to 
make  head  against  the  current  which  he  knows  is  sweeping 
him  on  to  the  whirlpool  of  destruction.  "  Wine  is  a  mocker  ! 
Strong  drink  is  raging !  "  O  young  men,  be  warned. 

If  there  are  present  any  of  that  numerous  class  of  persons  who 
are  ready  ever  to  denounce  drunkenness  and  the  drunkard  in 
unmeasured  terms,  while  they  look  on  moderate  drinking  with 
allowance,  or  perhaps  even  give  to  the  drinking  usages  of 
society  the  support  of  their  example,  will  they  allow  me  to  sug- 
gest that  the  considerations  I  have  presented  ought,  for  the 
future,  to  give  a  better  direction  to  their  sympathies  and  their 
denunciations  ?  The  drunkard,  who  became  such  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  ago,  while  the  world  was  in  comparative  igno- 
rance of  the  truths  since  brought  to  light  by  the  temperance 
reformation,  and  who  may  now  find  himself  destitute  of  thftt 
strength  of  purpose  necessary  to  break  the  chain  that  binds 
him,  is  not  a  proper  object  for  denunciation.  How  far  he 
may  be  morally  responsible  for  the  condition  of  wretchedness 
in  which  he  now  finds  himself,  I  will  not  pretend  to  determine ; 
but  I  say,  unhesitatingly,  that,  charged  as  he  is,  by  the  voice 
of  the  community,  with  guilt  and  folly,  he  is,  in  my  opinion, 
justly  chargeable  with  either  in  a  less  degree  than  the  man  who, 
with  the  means  of  information  now  within  his  reach,  and  with 
the  warning  voice  of  thousands  ringing  in  his  ears,  disregards 
both,  and  goes  on  to  form  an  unnatural  appetite,  which  may  lead 


20 


THE    LAW   AND   TENDENCIES    OF 


him  into  sin  and  crime,  and  open  for  him  an  untimely  and  dis- 
honorable grave.  He  boasts  of  his  power  of  self-control,  and 
he  is  therefore  bound  to  employ  it.  The  wretched  drunkard 
often  confesses,  with  tears  of  regret,  that  his  has  been  lost,  or 
so  far  enfeebled,  that  it  will  not  serve  him  in  the  dreadful 
extremity  to  which  he  has  arrived. 

Mr.  President,  the  case  of  the  drunkard  is  not  the  only  one 
in  which  the  appetites  become  master  of  the  will ;  and  it  may 
not  be  amiss  for  us  to  consider,  for  a  few  moments,  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  even  the  appetite  for  food,  though  a 
natural  one,  attains  a  complete  mastery  even  of  the  strongest 
men  ;  for,  although  I  have  before  asserted  that  the  natural 
appetites,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  have  no  tendency  to 
become  tyrannical  or  overbearing,  yet  there  are  various  cir- 
cumstances which  may,  for  the  time,  give  to  a  natural  appetite 
the  characteristics  and  strength  of  one  that  is  entirely  artificial. 

Eleven  years'  experience  in  the  practice  of  my  profession 
as  a  physician  and  surgeon  has  afforded  me  abundant  oppor- 
tunities of  witnessing  to  the  truth  of  what  I  have  just  asserted. 
Go  with  me,  in  your  imagination,  Mr.  President,  to  the  sick 
chamber.  There  lies  an  individual  who  has  been  brought  to 
the  verge  of  the  grave,  as  it  were,  by  typhus  fever.  Fie  is 
now  convalescent.  The  disease  reached  its  crisis,  as  we 
say,  three  days  since  :  the  tongue,  of  late  so  heavily  loaded, 
has  parted  with  its  unnatural  coating  ;  the  mouth  is  no  longer 
dry,  for  the  salivary  glands  have  resumed  their  natural  func- 
tions ;  and  the  stomach,  which  has  for  three  weeks  been 
inactive,  now,  in  behalf  of  the  enfeebled  and  emaciated  frame, 
is  clamorous  for  nutriment.  While  the  stomach  has  been 
unable  to  prepare  nutriment  for  the  body,  the  absorbents 
have  been  at  work  to  supply  the  vital  organs  with  necessary 
support ;  and,  after  having  worked  up  the  adipose  or  fatty  mat- 
ter, which  had,  in  time  of  health,  been  laid  away  as  nutriment 
ii  reserve,  they  have  attacked  the  muscular  system,  and  the  thick 
bodies  of  the  muscles  have  been  worked  up  into  nutriment  for 
the  vital  organs,  until  those  muscles  are  reduced  to  mere  feeble 


ARTIFICIAL   APPETITES.  21 

strings  ;  and  hence,  although  the  disease  has  bidden  a  kind 
farewell,  his  powers  of  locomotion  will  be  very  feeble  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  Yet  what  has  been  borrowed  from  these 
muscles  during  the  late  calamity  must  be  restored,  and  the 
stomach  must  therefore,  for  a  time,  perform  double  duty.  It 
must  provide  means  to  repair  the  daily  wear  of  the  organs, 
and  extra  material  to  build  up  again  those  muscles  which  the 
absorbents  have  whittled  away  to  strings.  The  demand  for 
food,  under  these  trying  circumstances,  is  rendered  peculiarly 
urgent,  and  a  natural  appetite,  for  the  time  being,  assumes  the 
strength  of  an  unnatural  one.  Now,  will  our  feeble  patient 
govern  that  appetite,  and  keep  it  within  the  control  of  reason 
and  prudence  ?  You  know,  Mr.  President,  and  some  of  you, 
ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  he  will  not.  Some  of  you  have 
been  taught  by  bitter  experience.  It  matters  not,  though  the 
patient  be  a  Rev.  D.  D.,  who  has  spent  his  life  in  religious 
teaching,  and  a  thousand  times  enjoined  upon  his  hearers  the 
duty  of  controlling  their  passions  and  appetites,  of  keeping  the 
body  under,  and  bringing  it  into  subjection,  to  the  highest 
powers  of  reason  and  conscience.  I  would  not  now  trust  him 
with  a  beefsteak  or  a  plum  pudding  within  his  reach  sooner 
than  the  most  thoughtless  child.  His  power  of  self-control  — 
in  other  words,  his  resolution  or  will  —  has  been  brought  down 
below  zero,  while  his  appetite  for  food,  through  the  causes  I 
have  enumerated,  has  acquired  five  times  its  natural  strength. 
He  has  lost  the  balance  of  power,  and  you  must  now  stand 
between  him  and  the  table,  or  he  will  use  food  so  imprudently 
as  perhaps  to  bring  on  a  relapse  of  fever,  and  it  may  be  de- 
stroy his  life. 

A  professor  in  one  of  our  medical  colleges,  who  has  spent 
his  life  in  the  study  and  practice  of  medicine,  who  has 
seen  hundreds  under  the  circumstances  I  have  described,  and 
who  could  call  to  mind  Icores  of  cases  where  improper  indul- 
gence in  food,  under  such  circumstances,  has  been  fatal  to  the 
life  of  the  individual,  can  no  more  be  trusted  to  regulate  his 
own  diet,  during  the  period  of  convalescence  from  a  severe 


22  THE    LAW   AND   TENDENCIES    OF 

and  protracted  disease,  than  a  schoolboy.  If  he  did  not,  like 
Ca3sar,  cry  out, "  Give  me  some  drink,  Titinius,"  he  would  call 
for  bread  and  butter,  or  chicken  soup,  in  tones,  and  with  an 
expression  of  countenance,  which  would  excite  your  compas- 
sion. His  medical  knowledge  is  not  worth  a  cent  to  him 
under  his  present  circumstances :  you  must  stand  between 
him  and  the  table,  or  he  dies. 

Suppose  appetite,  and  the  controlling  power,  will,  to  be  rep- 
resented on  two  opposite  scales  or  thermometers.  In  health, 
we  will  suppose  that  appetite  stands  at  fifty  on  its  scale,  while 
will  stands  at  seventy.  The  will  now  governs  ;  but  in  such  a 
state  of  disease  as  I  have  described,  or  rather  during  con- 
valescence, the  appetite  runs  up  on  the  scale  to  seventy,  eighty, 
or  a  hundred,  while  will,  enfeebled  by  the  infirmity  of  the 
body,  especially  that  of  the  stomach  and  nervous  system,  has 
fallen  down  below  zero  on  the  scale.  The  man  must  now 
be  controlled  by  forces  from  without,  or  he  will  destroy  him- 
self. Supply  him  with  a  little  food  to-day,  as  much  as  may 
be  safely  administered  and  well  digested,  and  to-morrow 
strength  of  body  and  will  has  crept  up  five  or  ten  degrees  on 
the  scale,  while  appetite  is  less  clamorous,  having  fallen  five 
or  ten  degrees  on  its  scale.  Pursue  the  same  course  daily  for 
a  few  days,  and  appetite  will  have  come  down  daily,  until  it 
answers  to  fifty  on  the  scale,  while  will,  or  the  governing 
power,  has  gone  up  to  seventy.  You  may  now  relax  your 
care  of  the  patient ;  he  can  take  care  of  himself. 

The  drunkard's  will  is  enfeebled  by  disease  of  the  stomach 
and  the  nervous  system,  and  the  terrific  power  of  an  un- 
natural and  fiendish  appetite  rules  him  with  a  rod  of  iron.  O 
my  hearers,  have  mercy  on  the  drunkard !  His  wretched  con- 
dition demands  your  compassion.  Encourage  him  by  kind 
words,  and  support  him  in  every  feeble  resolution  he  may 
form.  Convince  him,  by  persevering  efforts  for  his  rescue, 
that  you  are  indeed  his  friend,  and  thus  secure  an  influence 
over  him  which  you  may  wield  for  his  salvation.  Stand 
around  him  like  a  wall  of  fire,  to  protect  him  from  the  mer- 


ARTIFICIAL    APPETITES.  23 

ciless  wretches  who  would  profit  by  his  folly  and  weakness^ 
and  thus  contribute  what  aid  you  may  to  restore  him  to  him- 
self, to  his  family,  to  society,  to  happiness,  and  usefulness. 

Another  peculiarity  which  attaches  to  all  artificial  appetites 
is  that,  in  addition  to  the  injury  they  inflict  on  the  intellect,  the 
will,  the  moral  character,  &c.,  they  each  and  all  have  a  direct 
tendency  to  impair  some  one  or  more  of  the  .organs  of  sense, 
and  thus  lessen  even  the  amount  of  animal  enjoyment.  The 
individual  who  has  given  his  or  her  nose  such  an  unfortunate 
education  that  it  hourly  clamors  for  a  supply  of  pulverized 
tobacco,  may  derive  a  certain  kind  of  enjoyment  from  the 
gratification  of  such  unnatural  desires.  Such  enjoyment  is 
vile,  however,  compared  with  what  the  individual  sacrifices  to 
secure  it.  Let  that  person  walk  out  in  the  orchard  some 
morning  in  June,  — 

"  At  dawn,  when  every  grassy  blade 
Droops  with  a  diamond  at  his  head, 
Or  eve,  when  flowers  their  fragrance  shed 
In  the  rustling  gale,"  — 

when  the  air  is  full  of  sweet  odors,  and  he  is  a  stranger  to 
that  enjoyment  which  surrounding  influences  would  impart  to 
those  whose  organs  of  smell  have  not  been  so  terribly  abused. 
Often,  while  travelling,  with  my  pockets  full  of  choice  apples, 
and  in  company  with  some  friend,  I  have  offered  to  share 
with  him  their  contents,  and  received  for  answer, "  No,  I  thank 
you.  I  have  got  some  tobacco  in  my  mouth."  Poor  soul ! 
and  so  he  must  deny  himself  the  luxury  of  delicious  fruit,  that 
he  might  masticate  a  filthy  weed,  which  we  put  around  our 
squash  vines  to  keep  off  the  bugs.  But  some  one  may  reply, 
that  men  who  chew  tobacco  eat  apples  and  other  fine  fruits  at 
certain  times.  I  am  aware  of  that  fact,  but  I  am  equally  con- 
vinced that  those  luscious  fruits  never  afford  to  organs  of 
taste,  whose  sensibilities  have  been  blunted  by  narcotics,  that 
exquisite  pleasure  they  afford  to  a  healthy  palate. 

A  personal  friend  of  mine,  in  the  county  of  Essex,  Mas- 
sachusetts, who  was  an  early  and  devoted  friend  of  temperance, 


24  THE   LAW  AND   TENDENCIES   OF 

once  related  to  me  an  anecdote  which  may  serve  to  illustrate 
the  truth  I  am  laboring  to  enforce.  That  friend  is  a  clergy- 
man; and  having,  as  1  wish,  for  the  sake  of  their  health,  every 
clergyman  had,  a  love  for  horticulture,  he  had  surrounded  his 
house,  and  stocked  his  yards,  which  were  of  ample  dimensions, 
with  choice  fruit  trees.  In  the  season  of  them,  he  can  set 
before  his  friends  almost  every  variety  of  choice  fruits ;  and, 
with  a  spirit  of  generosity  and  benevolence  quite  characteristic 
of  the  man,  he  seems  to  take  great  pleasure  in  doing  so.  At  a 
time  when  many  varieties  of  fine  fruits  were  in  their  hight  at 
state  of  perfection,  a  friend  from  Boston  visited  him.  He  was 
a  man  of  talent,  education,  and  of  the  most  respectable  con- 
nections. He  had,  however,  unfortunately  formed  an  appetite 
for  unnatural  stimulants,  and  impaired  the  tone  of  his  stomach 
by  their  use.  My  friend  invited  him  to  walk  in  his  fruit  yards  ; 
and,  culling  from  the  bending  boughs  the  finest  specimens  of 
pears,  peaches,  grapes,  &c.,  and  accompanying  their  bestow- 
ment  with  such  descriptions  of  their  origin  and  peculiarities  as 
none  but  an  enthusiast  in  the  science  of  horticulture  could 
give,  he  passed  them  into  the  hands  of  his  Boston  friend,  not 
doubting  but  he  was  affording  him  a  rich  treat.  He,  however, 
at  length  discovered  that  the  fruits,  instead  of  being  eaten, 
were  accumulating  in  the  hands  of  his  friend  ;  and,  in  a  tone 
which  almost  conveyed  reproof,  he  exclaimed,  "  My  dear  sir, 
do  eat  them,  and  eat  them  freely  ;  they  are  fully  ripe,  and 
can  hurt  no  one  ;  and  I  have  an  abundance  of  them."  The 
unfortunate  man  boked  him  up  in  the  face,  as  my  friend  in- 
formed me,  and  with  the  most  lugubrious  expression  imaginable, 
replied,  "  My  dear  friend,  I  am  sensible  of  your  kindness ;  but 
do  you  not  think  such  things  are  rather  cold  for  the  stomach  ?  " 
Poor  man  !  he  had  scorched  the  coats  of  his  stomach  with 
the  fiery  products  of  the  still  until  he  had  no  relish  for  the 
most  luscious  fruits  which  God  has  given  for  our  sustenance 
and  enjoyment.  "  Rather  cold  for  the  stomach  !  "  Mr.  Pres- 
ident, you  and  I,  with  palates  and  stomachs  uricursed  by 
alcohol,  will  net  complain  of  the  coldness  of  delicious 


ARTIFICIAL    APPETITES.  25 

peaches,  or  a  basket  of  grapes,  whose  purple  jackets  are 
bursting  from  the  pressure  of  the  rich  juices  they  contain. 

I  cannot  but  hope,  Mr.  President,  and  ladies  and  gentle- 
men, that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  mankind  will  unitedly 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  our  merciful  and  all-wise  heavenly 
Father  knew  better  than  we  can  possibly  know  how  many 
appetites  it  were  best  for  human  beings  to  possess,  and  no 
longer  be  guilty  of  the  folly  of  manufacturing  a  number  of 
new  ones,  in  the  gratification  of  which  we  render  ourselves 
disgusting  to  others,  while  we  ourselves  are  reduced  by 
them  to  a  bondage  worse  than  Egyptian.  Let  us  all  be  assured 
that  in  the  temperate  indulgence  of  natural  appetites  we  shall 
not  only  secure  the  most  perfect  action  of  our  intellects  and 
social  affections,  but  that  we  shall  thereby  secure  the  greatest 
amount  even  of  animal  enjoyment. 

Mr.  President,  and  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  must  conclude 
this  too  lengthy  discourse  by  expressing  to  you  my  thanks  for 
your  patient  and  respectful  attention. 


THE  WARFARE  OF  THE  TRAFFIC  IN  INTOXI- 
CATING DRINKS  ON  ALL  USEFUL  TRADES 
AND  OCCUPATIONS. 


A  DISCOURSE  DELIVERED  AT  BLOOMFIELD,  CONNECTICUT, 
DECEMBER  29,  1848. 

REPORTED  PHONOORAPHICALLY,   BY  H.   E.   ROCKWELL. 


MR.  CHAIRMAN,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  — 

WHILE  pretty  strenuous  efforts  are  being  made  by  the  friends 
of  temperance,  in  almost  every  section  of  our  state  and  coun- 
try, to  bring  to  an  end  that  pernicious  and  destructive  system 
of  things,  which  has  produced  all  the  drunkenness,  and  a  large 
portion  of  the  poverty  and  wretchedness,  we  see  around  us, 
we  ought  not  to  consider  it  at  all  remarkable,  or  extraordinary, 
that  those  whose  business,  habits,  or  inclinations  lead  them  to 
desire  the  continuance  of  that  system,  should  be  found  casting 
about  them  for  something  in  the  shape  of  argument,  or  reason, 
by  which  to  sustain  themselves  in  the  course  they  pursue.  To  be 
sure,  it  requires  considerable  courage  and  assurance,  if  nothing 
worse,  to  look  up,  and  employ  arguments  against  a  blessed  en- 
terprise which  has  healed  thousands  of  broken  hearts,  and  car- 
ried peace,  and  plenty,  and  joy,  to  thousands  of  once  wretched 
homes.  But  the  case  is  a  desperate  one,  and  desperate  efforts 
must  be  made,  or  the  adored  Diana  would  crumble  before 
them.  As  their  feeble  objections,  and  contemptibile  argu- 
ments, have  been  successively  knocked  on  the  head  with  the 


THE    WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM    TRAFFIC.  27 

sledge-hammer  of  truth,  it  has  been  amazingly  interesting  to 
witness  their  zeal  to  get  up  something  new.  Sometimes  failing 
to  do  this,  they  are  compelled  to  galvanize  into  a  brief  exist- 
ence some  old  and  exploded  affair,  which,  having  been  riddled 
through  and  through  by  the  shafts  of  truth,  we  had  hoped  might 
have  been  permitted  to  enjoy  an  undisturbed  repose. 

The  last  resurrection  of  that  character,  with  which  I  have 
become  acquainted,  is  of  that  old  argument,  that,  by  the  course 
we  are  pursuing,  we  are  making  unwarrantable  encroachments 
on  the  rights  of  our  fellow-citizens ;  that  we  are  meddling 
with  what  does  not  concern  us,  and  embarrassing  and  perse- 
cuting those  who  are  quietly  and  properly  minding  their  own 
business.  It  is  very  amusing  to  see  the  rum-sellers  of  Connec- 
ticut laboring  so  industriously  to  place  themselves  in  the  atti- 
tude of  persecuted  individuals,  and  almost  enough  to  draw  tears 
from  granite,  to  listen  to  their  pathetic  appeals  for  public 
sympathy.  The  language  of  a  distinguished  comic  poet  of 
England  would  not  be  out  of  place  in  their  mouths  — 

"  Pity  the  lifted  whites  of  both  my  eyes." 

Sir,  the  traffickers  in  intoxicating  drinks  are  the  last  men 
who  ought  to  complain  of  persecution.  The  system  which  they 
are  laboring  to.  sustain,  and  by  which  they  are  getting,  and  still 
hope  to  get  gain,  is  at  this  moment  waging  a  direct  and  inces- 
sant warfare  upon  every  useful  trade,  occupation,  and  profession 
in  the  state  of  Connecticut.  They  themselves  live,  not  by  a 
legitimate  business,  which  returns  to  society  an  equivalent  for 
the  goods  or  money  they  extract  from  it  and  employ  for  the 
sustenance  of  their  useless  lives,  but,  on  the  contrary,  as  they 
grow  rich,  others  around  them,  to  a  still  greater  extent,  must 
grow  poor ;  for  the  article  with  which  they  supply  their  cus- 
tomers, not  only  does  them  no  good,  but  positive  evil,  unfitting 
them  for  the  discharge  of  their  duties  to  God,  their  families, 
and  society  at  large.  As  a  poisonous  mushroom  grows  most 
luxuriantly  when  it  sprouts  from  a  heap  of  decaying  vege- 
tables, so  a  rum-seller  fattens  and  thrives  in  exact  proportion 


28  THE   WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM    TRAFFIC 

to  the  decay  and  rottenness  of  society  around  him.  I  have 
said  that  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and 
the  system  against  which  we  are  warring  —  and  by  the  system^ 
[  mean  all  the  parts,  tools,  and  appurtenances  of  the  drunkard- 
making  business,  as  linked  together,  between  the  mouth  of  the 
still  and  the  stomach  of  the  drunkard  —  this  system,  I  repeat,  is 
waging  a  direct  war  with  every  useful  branch  of  business  car- 
ried on  in  this  community.  If  there  is  a  man  in  Bloomfield 
who  finds,  on  careful  examination,  that  his  particular  business  is 
not  in  some  way  injured  by  the  rum  traffic,  then  I  advise  that 
gentleman  to  get  out  of  his  business  as  quickly  as  possible  ; 
for  no  further  evidence  is  needed  that  it  is  a  vile  and  useless 
business,  which  ought  not  to  employ  the  time  and  labor  of  any 
man. 

Sir,  let  us  look  at  this  matter  a  little  in  detail ;  for  the  subject 
is  worthy  of  particular  attention,  if  the  position  I  have  taken 
be  a  sound  one  ;  and  if  it  be  not,  an  examination  of  the  sub- 
ject in  detail  may  show  me  and  this  audience  my  error. 

All  useful  trades  and  occupations  among  men,  if  properly 
followed,  may  exist  in  the  same  community  without  clashing  or 
collision,  while  many  of  them  sustain  a  truly  fraternal  rela- 
tionship to  each  other.  The  wagon-maker,  for  instance 

(Laughter,  and  some  sensation  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
speaker.)  I  am  inclined  to  the  opinion,  Mr.  President,  from 
certain  indications,  that  I  have  some  of  that  class  of  tradesmen 
near  me.  If  so,  they  can  understand  my  argument. 

Sir,  while  the  wagon-maker  —  the  worker  in  wood  I  now  refer 
to  —  while  he  is  shaping  and  putting  together  the  various  parts 
which  enter  into  the  construction  of  a  wagon,  he  is  thinking 
only  of  executing  a  valuable  piece  of  work,  and  receiving  for 
it  a  valuable  consideration ;  and  yet  he  is  doing  service  to  his 
neighbors.  When  he  has  finished  his  work,  the  wagon  must  be 
ironed ;  and  the  blacksmith  now  gets  a  good  job.  He  also, 
while  performing  his  part  of  the  labor,  is  intent  mainly  on 
doing  a  good  piece  of  work,  and  receiving  for  it  a  valuable 
consideration ;  but  he,  in  turn,  is  preparing  work  for  another; 


ON    USEFUL    OCCUPATIONS.  29 

for  now  the  wagon  must  be  painted.  The  painter  takes 
his  turn ;  and  before  the  horse  can  be  attached  to  it,  the  har- 
ness-maker comes  in  for  his  share  of  the  labor  and  the  profits. 
Thus  it  is,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  with  all  useful  trades 
and  occupations ;  they  are  brothers,  and  work  together  harmo- 
niously. But  let  us  see.  Does  the  grog-seller  sustain  a  legiti- 
mate relationship  to  this  family  of  brothers  ?  By  no  means. 
His  vocation  is  a  perfect  Ishrnaelite.  Its  hand  is  against  every 
man,  and  every  man's  hand  should  be  against  it. 

Mr.  Chairman,  there  are  now  in  New  England  many  pleas- 
ant villages  where  there  was  not  a  human  dwelling  fifteen 
years  ago.  Where  good  water  power  is  discovered,  villages 
start  up  as  if  by  magic.  Now,  sir,  I  have  enjoyed  the  oppor- 
tunity of  watching  the  growth  of  some  of  them,  from  the  time 
when  a  dam  was  first  thrown  across  a  previously  neglected 
stream,  until  a  beautiful  village  occupied  acres  of  its  banks, 
I  have  said  the  dam  is  first  thrown  across ;  then  a  factory  and 
workshops  go  up,  with  a  few  boarding-houses  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  "  help  ; "  and  thus  the  work  goes  on. 

Presently  some  shrewd  carpenter  will  say  to  himself,  "There 
must,  from  the  course  matters  are  taking,  be  a  good  deal  of 
building  done  here  within  the  next  ten  years ;  and  I  will  be  on 
the  ground  in  season."  Sir,  lie  buys  a  lot,  and  builds  him  a 
workshop,  and  his  neighbors  —  the  few  whom  he  calls  such  — 
are  pleased  that  a  carpenter  is  so  near  them.  Next  comes  a 
blacksmith;  and  the  sound  of  his  hammer,  and  the  cheerful 
sparks  as  they  stream  up  from  his  chimney  top,  during  the  long 
'winter  evenings,  gladden  both  the  ears  and  the  eyes  of  his 
neighbors.  Now,  sir,  does  the  fact  that  a  blacksmith  has 
established  himself  in  the  village  afford  matter  of  alarm  to  trie 
carpenter  ?  Not  at  all.  Here  is  no  clashing  of  interests.  Next 
comes  the  cabinet-maker;  and  still  all  is  peace,  although  the 
village  is  rapidly  increasing  in  population,  trade,  and  conse- 
quence. The  tinman  and  stove-dealer,  the  dry  goods  mer- 
chant, the  shoemaker,  and  the  grocer,  rapidly  succeed  each 
other ;  and  yet  there  is  no  clashing  of  interests.  These  trades 
3* 


80  THE    WARFARE    OF   THE    RUM    TRAFFIC 

and  occupations  are  all  brethren.  At  length,  in  an  evil  hour, 
some  individual  fancies  that  the  new  village  would  be  a  capital 
place  for  a  liquor  shop,  and  proceeds  to  erect  one,  and  furnish 
it  with  the  usual  assortment ;  and  now,  sir,  it  may  be  said  as 
of  old,  "  Satan  came  also."  Pandora's  box  has  been  opened, 
and  hell  has  got  breath  in  that  neighborhood. 

In  relation  to  this  last  accession  to  the  village  business  and 
population,  can  the  same  be  said,  in  truth,  which  we  were  able 
to  declare  concerning  the  other  branches  of  business  I  have 
named  ?  Will  there  be  peace  longer  ?  Is  there  no  clashing 
of  interests  now?  Sir,  as  I  have  before  said,  this  business  will 
prove  a  perfect  Ishmaelite  to  every  useful  occupation  in  the 
village  and  vicinity.  But  I  fancy  I  hear  some  one  inquire, 
"Why  need  the  blacksmith,  carpenter,  tailor,  &c.,  trouble 
themselves  about  the  dram-shop  ?  They  can  keep  away  from  it, 
and  it  won't  trouble  them."  But,  sir,  that  is  a  mistake  : 
though  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  vile  establishment, 
it  will  have  to  do  with  them  and  their  interests.  It  will  turn 
out  men  drunk,  at  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  now  and  then, 
to  howl  like  hyenas  through  the  street,  and  disturb  the  sleep 
of  the  villagers.  Men,  made  reckless  there  by  the  maddening 
draught,  will  drive  furiously  through  the  streets  at  noonday, 
while  the  children  of  the  villagers  are  playing  abroad,  or  on 
their  way  to,  or  return  from  school,  endangering  their  lives, 
and  creating  alarm  and  anxiety  in  the  breasts  of  parents.  But, 
sir,  I  am  wandering  from  my  proper  theme.  I  was  to  speak  of 
its  warfare  with  their  business. 

I  have,  for  many  years,  improved  every  opportunity,  that 
came  in  my  way,  to  learn,  from  men  of  different  occupations, 
how  this  vile  system  we  are  examining  bears  on  their  particu- 
lar business ;  and  I  may  therefore  be  allowed  to  say,  that  I  feel 
some  confidence  in  my  ability  to  present  the  case  truthfully 
and  fairly.  Let  us  introduce  some  of  these  tradesmen  on 
the  stand,  and  hear  what  they  will  say  on  the  subject.  Mr. 
Blacksmith,  are  you  a  sufferer  by  the  rum  traffic  carried  on  in 
your  community  ? 


ON   USEFUL    OCCUPATIONS.  31 

"  Sir,  you  shall  judge  when  I  have  stated  facts  of  recent  oc- 
currence. Some  days  since,  finding  it  necessary  to  replenish 
my  stock  of  iron  and  steel,  and  not  having  funds  enough  in 
my  pocket  to  pay  the  purchase  money,  I  sat  down  in  the  even- 
ing, and  made  out  bills  against  a  number  of  my  townsmen, 
whose  accounts  had  been  permitted  to  run  for  a  considerable 
time.  The  next  day,  I  took  my  horse  and  started  on  a  collect- 
ing tour.  In  many  cases,  I  was  successful  in  getting  my 
money,  and  in  some  others,  the  effort  resulted  in  a  failure  ;  and 
of  this  latter  class  of  cases  I  will  give  you  a  specimen.  I 
called  on  Mr.  Samuel  Swizzle.  [A  laugh.]  I  did  not  know  but 
that  he  was  as  good  as  the  bank.  I  knew  he  did  at  one  time 
possess  considerable  property.  Well,  sir,  he  could  not  pay  the 
bill  when  I  presented  it ;  nor  Could  he  fix  any  time  when  he 
would  pay  it.  I  therefore  left  him ;  and  as  I  was  leaving  the 
premises,  I  cast  my  eye  over  his  buildings,  yards,  fences,  and 
fields  ;  and  all  things  seemed  to  have  grown  old,  since  I  was 
last  in  that  section  of  the  town.  I  inquired  of  a  neighbor  of  his, 
with  whom  I  also  had  business,  relative  to  his  circumstances ; 
and  with  an  ominous  shake  of  the  head,  he  informed  me  that  he 
is  not  now  supposed  to  be  worth  one  cent.  So  I  must  lose  my 
bill.  And  whom  have  I  to  thank  for  such  a  result  ?  It  is  not 
my  neighbor  the  carpenter,  nor  the  cabinet-maker,  the  tailor, 
the  tinman,  the  shoemaker,  or  the  schoolmaster.  No,  sir,  it  is 
not  all,  nor  any  of  these,  who  have  by  their  influence  brought 
poverty  to  Swizzle,  and  loss  to  me.  It  is  that  infernal  dram- 
shop, which  stands  within  half  a  mile  of  his  door ;  and  which, 
I  am  told,  he  cannot  pass  without  his  dram. 

"  That  it  is  which  has  brought  poverty  and  misery  to  his  fam- 
ily, and  destroyed  his  ability,  as  well  as  his  disposition,  to  pay 
his  honest  debts.  Sir,  is  there  no  hardship  in  this  ?  Look  at 
the  facts.  I  have  burned  up  coal,  which  cost  me  money  ;  and 
I  have  worked  up  my  iron  and  steel  in  his  service.  I  have 
many  a  time  made  my  back  ache  with  stooping  to  put  shoes 
on  his  old  horse's  heels;  and  now,  I  may  whistle  for  my  re- 
ward. And  yet,  when  I  complained  of  the  influence  of  such 


32         .  THE    WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM    TRAFFIC 

establishments,  some  days  since,  and  expressed  my  opinion 
that  they  ought  not  to  be  tolerated,  our  neighbor,  the  tavern- 
keeper,  and  some  of  his  satellites,  replied,  that  7  had  letter 
mind  my  own  business  !  " 

Well,  Mr.  President,  what  think  you  of  the  blacksmith's  tes- 
timony ?  I  think  you  must  have  heard  complaints  very  like 
his  before. 

But,  Mr.  Mahogany,  what  have  you  to  say  against  the  rum 
traffic  ?  Does  your  business  suffer  from  its  continuance  ? 

"  Suffer  !  yes.  A  few  weeks  since,  the  wife  of  Bill  Bloater 
came  to  my  shop,  and  ordered  a  case  of  drawers  of  a  particu- 
lar and  unusual  size,  to  fill  a  certain  niche  in  one  of  the  cham- 
bers of  their  house.  I  made  it  according  to  order ;  and,  as  it 
was  not  called  for,  I  dropped  a  note  to  the  lady,  a  few  days 
since,  informing  her  that  the  article  was  finished,  and  subject 
to  her  order,  Well,  I  received  for  reply,  her  husband  had 
decided  that  the  state  of  their  finances  forbade  such  an  outlay. 
Sir,  the  case  of  drawers  is  yet  in  my  shop.  Were  Bloater 
to  take  it,  I  should  never  get  my  pay  ;  and  it  is  of  a  size 
and  form  not  often  called  for,  and  the  probability  is,  that  it 
must  encumber  my  shop  for  years,  or  I  must  sell  it  much  below 
cost.  This,  to  a  man  of  much  property  and  extensive  business, 
might  seem  a  trifle,  to  be  sure ;  but  to  a  man  engaged  in  busi- 
ness on  a  small  scale,  as  I  am,  and  who  has  to  trust  to  the  labor 
of  his  own  hands  for  the  bread  that  is  to  feed  his  children,  such 
things  are  a  source  of  embarrassment. 

"  Now,  sir,  the  price  of  the  rum  that  goes  daily  down  Bill 
Bloater's  neck,  in  yonder  grog-shop,  would,  if  saved  for  two 
months,  pay  for  that  case  of  drawers.  He  would  be  a  healthi- 
er, more  industrious,  and  more  respectable  man ;  his  house 
better  furnished,  and  his  wife  a  happier  woman ;  and  I  should 
be  rewarded  for  the  honest  labor  of  my  hands.  There  is  but 
little  sale  for  good  furniture,  sir,  in  a  community  of  drunkards  ; 
and  for  the  sales  made  it  is  hard  work  to  get  the  money.  The 
money  seems  all  to  take  a  different  direction  —  to  the  till  of  the 
dram-shop,  the  little  village  hell !  " 


ON   USEFUL   OCCUPATIONS.  33 

Mr.  President,  what  think  you  of  the  case  of  the  cabinet- 
maker ?  Has  he  not  made  out  another  case  bet'de  the  case 
of  drawers  ?  Sir,  a  few  years  since,  while  laboring  in  the 
service  of  the  Massachusetts  Temperance  Union,  I  had  oc- 
casion to  visit  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the  state.  The 
particular  place  I  have  forgotten.  I  accordingly  took  my  seat 
on  the  stage  box,  beside  a  very  intelligent  driver ;  and,  in  the 
course  of  our  journey,  we  fell  into  conversation  on  this  sub- 
ject. "  Well,"  said  I,  "  driver,  I  have  repeatedly  asserted 
that  the  traffic  in  strong  drink  wages  a  warfare  upon  all  useful 
trades  and  occupations  in  community ;  and  now  please  inform 
me  if  your  occupation  be  an  exception."  "  I  should  think  you 
might  be  sure  it  was  not,"  said  he,  "  without  asking  such  a 
question."  "  But,"  said  I, "  you  understand  your  own  business 
better  than  I  can  be  supposed  to,  and  I  want  to  hear  your 
explanations  of  the  matter."  He  paused  for  a  moment,  as  if 
taking  breath  for  an  extra  effort,  and  then,  with  considerable 
warmth,  replied, — 

"  Intemperance  is  the  greatest  source  of  embarrassment  which 
I  have  to  encounter  in  my  business.  It  is  worse  than  muddy 
roads,  or  bad  horses ;  for  the  mud  lasts  but  a  portion  of  the 
year,  and  bad  horses  I  can  trade  off  or  give  to  the  crows  ;  but 
this  curse  of  rum  sticks  to  us  the  year  round."  "  Be  a  little 
more  precise,"  said  I, "  for  I  want  to  know  the  particular  wayg 
in  which  you  suffer  by  it."  He  resumed  :  "  When  my  hour 
comes  to  leave  the  city,  or  rather  a  little  while  before,  I  drive 
out  and  pick  up  my  passengers  from  various  parts  of  the  city, 
that  I  may  be  ready  to  start  at  the  precise  moment  advertised ; 
and  often  it  happens  that  just  as  I  am  about  to  start,  a  fellow 
comes  up  and  inquires, '  Is  this  the  —  hie  —  Bridge  —  water  — 
stage  ?  '  t  Yes.'  Well ,  I'd  like  —  to — like  to  —  hie  —  take  a  ride 
—  hie  —  with  ye.'  Now,  sir,  what  can  I  do  in  such  a  case  ?  I 
do  not  wish  to  carry  men  in  that  condition.  It  does  not  pay  cost. 
But  I  know  that  man,  perhaps ;  I  know  his  family;  and  I  know 
that  if  he  does  not  reach  his  home  when  expected,  his  wife, 
and  perhaps  his  children,  will  pass  a  sleepless  night  on  account 


34  THE    WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM    TRAFFIC 

of  the  absence  of  that  husband  and  father.  They  will  be  filled 
with  deep  anxiety,  and,  to  save  that  family  a  night  of  painful 
suspense  and  watchfulness,  and  to  save  him,  perhaps,  from  the 
disgrace  of  a  night  in  the  watch-house,  or  a  death  in  the  street,  I 
undertake  to  get  him  home.  To  put  him  into  the  coach  in  com- 
pany with  ladies  and  gentlemen  will  not  answer,  and  so  I  take 
him  on  outside,  if  I  can  get  him  up.  There  he  is  a  source  of 
continual  vexation.  To  keep  him  from  tumbling  off,  often 
requires  much  care  ;  and  where  there  is  no  particular  danger 
of  that,  he  will  be  almost  constantly  whistling  or  screaming 
at  my  horses,  even  while  I  am  endeavoring  to  guide  them 
safely  and  slowly  down  some  steep  hill,  or  over  a  rough  and 
dangerous  part  of  the  road.  Not  long  since,  I  was  thus 
plagued  with  an  intoxicated  man,  whom  I  was  trying  to  con- 
vey to  his  home  in  Plymouth  county.  All  my  scolding  and 
threats  would  scarcely  keep  him  quiet  for  three  minutes  at  a 
time.  At  length,  however,  he  bent  his  drunken  head  and 
shoulders  over  the  iron  railing  which  surrounds  the  top  of  the 
coach  :  he  was  sitting  on  the  upper  seat,  arid  I  began  to  comfort 
myself  with  the  notion  that  I  should  have  no  further  trouble 
with  him.  But  I  was  mistaken.  True,  he  kept  quiet  until 
we  reached  the  place  where  he  was  to  stop,  and  then  I  dis- 
covered what  had  happened  during  his  period  of  quietness. 
He  had,  in  reclining  on  the  top  of  the  coach,  thrust  his  elbow 
through  the  cover  of  a  bandbox,  which  contained  a  new  arid 
costly  bonnet,  and,  over  the  last  few  miles  of  our  ride,  at 
every  jolt,  that  elbow  was  grinding  the  beautiful  bonnet  to 
shreds.  It  was  completely  spoiled.  I  saw  at  once  what  must 
be  done.  I  made  the  lady  who  owned  the  bonnet  acquainted 
with  the  disaster,  inquired  its  price,  and  paid  over  my  hard- 
earned  money  to  repair  the  damages  done  by  that  drunken 
booby.  The  grog-seller  in  the  city  had  made  his  shilling,  per- 
haps, by  setting  the  cause  in  operation.  It  cost  me  much  vexa- 
tion and  more  than  five  dollars  cash  to  repair  the  damages."  s 

"  Well  driver,"  said  I,  "  when  I  charge  the  rum  traffic  with 
waging  a  warfare  on  all  useful  occupations,  I  shall  make  no 
exception  of  your  business." 


ON   USEFUL    OCCUPATIONS.  35 

Mr.  President,  go  and  converse  with  the  barber,  whose  ser- 
vices we  sometimes  find  quite  necessary,  and  he  will  tell  you 
that,  even  in  his  humble  occupation,  he  is  made  to  feel  the 
evil  effects  of  this  system.  Some  persons,  he  will  inform  you, 
occasionally  throw  themselves  into  his  chair,  and  present  him 
such-  a  piece  of  work  to  perform  as  is  absolutely  appalling ; 
that  he  had  rather  shave  three  smooth-faced  men,  or  those 
whose  faces  had  been  rendered  unsmooth  by  the  hand  of 
time,  than  a  face  covered  with  toddy-blossoms  —  a  countenance 
all  on  fire,  kindled  by  the  flame  that  is  burning  within  —  one 
that  perfectly  answers  the  description  of  Bardolph's  by  Fal- 
staff,  "  an  everlasting  bonfire,"  and  he  will  tell  you  that  the 
odor  from  the  lungs  of  a  drunkard  bears  but  a  very  slight 
resemblance  to  that  of  a  rose.  I  repeat,  that  every  man  in 
community  engaged  in  any  honest  business,  from  him  who 
occupies  the  sacred  desk  to  the  lad  who  blacks  our  boots  in 
the  hotel,  has  abundant  occasion  to  execrate  this  system.  The 
former  would  tell  you  that  strong  drink  hardens  the  hearts  of 
men,  and  renders  them  callous  to  good  impressions ;  and  the 
last  will  complain  that  men  who  have  business  on  both  sides 
of  the  street  dirty  their  boots  much  worse  than  sober  men. 
Yet  we  must  not  complain ! 

But,  Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  direct  your  attention,  and 
that  of  my  fellow-citizens  before  me,  to  the  operation  of  this 
system  on  the  business  of  the  medical  profession.  And,  sir,  on 
that  subject  I  can  speak  feelingly,  for  I  spent  eleven  years  of 
my  life  in  the  practice  of  that  profession,  and  during-that  period 
I  was  many  times  made  to  feel,  and  keenly  feel,  the  cruelty  and 
injustice  of  the  system,  to  the  annihilation  "of  which  I  would 
direct  the  efforts  of  my  countrymen.  Many  men,  who  were 
the  slaves  of  the  rum-seller  and  their  own  unnatural  appetites,! 
was  compelled  to  serve,  without  reward,  by  day  and  by  night, 
in  storm  and  fair  weather,  for  six  or  seven  years.  I  say  com- 
pelled, for  a  physician  may  not  refuse,  as  may  other  men,  if 
they  be  not  rewarded.  The  merchant,  farmer,  or  mechanic 
may  refuse  to  give  a  drunkard  credit  for  the  goods  he 


36  THE    WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM    TRAFFIC 

may  wish  to  purchase,  but  it  will  not  do  for  the  physician  to 
refuse  to  attend  his  family,  if  they  be  sick,  though  he  may 
not  have  the  slightest  prospect  of  reward.  If  his  own  human- 
ity did  not  compel  him,  public  opinion  would.  Yes,  sir,  we 
must  go  and  serve  the  sick  wife  or  child  of  the  drunkard, 
when  the  call  comes,  although  we  know,  before  we  take 
one  step,  that  we  shall  never  receive  one  cent  for  the 
service  of  past  years,  or  that  which  we  are  now  called  upon  to 
perform  ;  and  I  can  assure  my  auditors  that  I  have  often  been 
made  to  feel  any  thing  but  amiable  by  the  pressure  of  su.ch  a 
dire  necessity.  Often,  when  worn  and  wearied  by  professional 
labor,  anxiety,  and  long  watchings  in  the  sick  room,  and  when 
it  would  seem  almost  impossible  to  keep  my  eyes  open  for 
another  hour,  when  I  would  cheerfully  have  given  a  five 
dollar  bill  for  assurance  of  a  quiet  night's  sleep,  1  have 
thrown  myself  down  on  my  couch,  and,  just  as  I  was  going  off 
into  a  comfortable  oblivion  of  thought  and  care,  I  have  been 
aroused  by  the  rap,  rap,  rap  on  my  door, and  the  "  Halloo,  doctor ! 
turn  out !  "  Well,  sir,  I  pull  my  eyes  open  with  a  desperate 
effort,  and,  but  half  alive,  as  it  were,  find  my  way  to  the  door. 
"  Halloo  here !  what  is  wanted  ?  "  "  Why,  doctor,  I  want  you 
to  go  and  see  my  little  boy.  He  is  severely  sick,  and  I  am 
afraid  he  won't  live  till  morning."  "  Your  boy  sick  ?  Let  me 
see.  Who  are  you  ?  I  do  not  recognize  your  voice,  and  it  is  so 
dark  I  cannot  see  your  person."  "  Why,  doctor,  it  is  Mr.  so  and 
so."  "  Ah,  yes,  I  know  you."  And,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have 
more  than  once  uttered,  in  an  under  tone,  "I  know  you  too  well, 
much  better  than  I  could  wish."  I  go,  sir,  and  serve  the 
family ;  and  what  is  my  reward  ?  The  privilege  of  going 
again^  when  there  shall  come  such  a  night  as  that  in  which 
Tarn  O'Shanter  parted  with  Souter  Johnny  and  the  grog-shop, 
and,  rendered  courageous  by  John  Barleycorn,  — 

"  Skelpit  on,  through  dub  and  mire, 
Despising  wind,  and  rain,  and  fire,"  — 

knowing  that  every  cent  of  money  such  patrons  might  receive 


ON   USEFUL   OCCUPATIONS.  37 

they  would  be  sure  to  spend  at  the  dram-shop.  I  have  some- 
times tried  to  get  one  of  the  class  to  labor  for  me, — to  saw 
some  wood  at  my  door,  dress  my  garden,  or  assist  in 
securing  a  crop  of  hay.  How  could  he  refuse  ?  Sir,  he  had 
a  way  to  do  it.  He  would  begin  to  declare  how  sensible  he 
was  of  the  obligation  I  had  laid  him  under,  how  glad  he  should 
be  to  come  and  help  me,  &c. ;  and,  sir,  by  the  time  he  had 
arrived  at  that  point,  I  always  knew  what  was  coming.  He  was 
about  to  inform  me  that  he  was  engaged.  Such  chaps  were 
always  "  engaged  "  when  I  needed  their  service.  Yet  they 
were  always  ready  to  work  for  the  rum-seller.  They  were 
not  engaged  when  he  called.  No  matter  how  unpleasant  the 
service  he  wished  them  to  perform,  he  had  but  to  whistle,  and 
show  them  the  rum-bottle,  and  the  poor  slaves  would  roll  up 
their  ragged  sleeves  and  pitch  into  it,  as  the  sailors  say,  "  with  a 
will."  [Laughter,  and  an  exclamation,  "  That's  a  fact."]  But 
the  man  who  had  been  called  again  and  again  to  watch  by  the 
bedside  of  a  poor,  feeble,  heart-broken,  care-worn  wife  or  a 
sick  and  suffering  child,  and  administer  to  their  necessities 
through  a  long  and  tedious  illness,  who  for  years  must  wear 
out  carriage,  harness,  horse,  and  his  own  power  of  endurance, 
in  the  service  of  the  public, — when  he  wants  help,  such  fellows 
are  always  "  engaged."  And  yet,  sir,  we  must  submit  to  such 
vile  injustice ;  and  if  we  lift  a  finger  to  remove  the  causes  of  it, 
we  must  be  told  "  that  we  had  better  mind  our  own  business." 
We  must  submit  to  be  deprived  of  the  reward  of  honest  and 
hard  service,  to  have  our  pockets  picked  by  this  infernal 
system,  and  yet  be  denied  the  poor  privilege  of  complaining. 

Mr.  President,  and  fellow-citizens,  is  not  that  pushing  the 
joke  a  little  too  far  ?  Is  it  not  adding  insult  to  injury  ?  But, 
sir,  the  mischievous  influence  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating 
poison  is  not  confined  to  the  classes  I  have  named.  Go  to  a 
manufacturer,  and  inquire  relative  to  the  influence  of  a  dram- 
shop or  rum-tavern  upon  the  business  in  which  he  is  engaged, 
and  he  will  tell  you  a  story  of  embarrassment  in  his  business, 
of  injury  to  his  workmen  and  their  families,  of  wrong  and 
4 


38  THE    WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM   TRAFFIC 

outrage,  which  will  make  your  blood  boil  while  you  listen. 
Go,  sir,  to  fiie  hard-working  farmer,  and  he  will  tell  you 
that  not  only  is  he  taxed  to  support  paupers,  and  to  secure  ana 
punish  criminals,  made  such  by  this  vile  traffic,  but  that  a 
constant  drain  is  thereby  made  on  his  purse  and  goods  in  the 
way  of  private  charities.  This  traffic  surrounds  him  with  the 
poor  and  the  suffering.  He  cannot  close  his  eyes  to  their  neces- 
sities, or  shut  up  his  compassion  from  them.  One  day  a  little 
boy  comes  in,  with  downcast  look  and  tattered  garments,  and 
informs  Mr. that  "  mother  wants  to  get  a  peck  of  pota- 
toes ;  that  father  has  been  gone  from  home  for  two  or  three 
days,  and  their  potatoes  are  quite  gone."  Now,  what  is  the 
man  to  do  ?  He  has  really  no  potatoes  to  spare.  He  wouU 
not  sell  potatoes  for  the  money,  for  he  thinks  he  shall  not  hav& 
enough  to  supply  his  table  for  the  winter  and  plant  his  fields  in 
the  spring.  But  what  is  he  to  do  ?  There  stands  the  little 
sufferer,  who  may  have  to  go  to  his  bed  supperless  if  the 
potatoes  are  denied.  He  cannot  turn  the  child  away  empty. 
I  thank  God  that  such  inhumanity  is  not  often  found  among 
the  hard-handed  but  warm-hearted  men  who  till  the  soil.  The 
potatoes  are  sent;  and,  before  the  close  of  the  week,  a  little 
girl  comes  to  borrow  some  meal.  It  is  lent,  although  the  good 
farmer's  wife  well  knows  that,  in  all  probability,  as  much  will 
never  be  returned.  Thus  it  is  and  ever  must  be,  sir,  where 
this  infamous  business  is  tolerated.  The  men  of  the  sea  com- 
plain of  it.  Gentlemen  of  the  highest  respectability,  sea 
captains  who  have  spent  a  large  portion  of  their  lives  on  the 
water,  assure  me  that  more  cases  of  mutiny  and  insubordina- 
tion on  shipboard  have  been  produced  by  intoxicating  drinks  than 
by  all  other  causes  put  together.  And  yet  there  stands  the 
grog-shop,  drawing  its  support  from  the  pockets  of  honest, 
hard-laboring  men,  and  embarrassing  every  useful  and  hon- 
orable business  —  a  regular  piratical  concern,  which  has  thrust 
itself  into  community  among  useful  trades  and  occupations, 
got  itself  acknowledged,  for  a  while,  as  a  decent  and  laudable 
business,  and  reenacted'the  part  of  the  "  lean  kine  "  and  the 


ON   USEFUL    OCCUPATIONS.  39 

"  blasted  ears  "  of  Pharaoh's  dream.  With  such  facts  as  I 
have  presented  staring  community  in  the  face  on  every  hand, 
it  is  indeed  lamentable  to  observe  how  exceedingly  ignorant 
many  are  content  to  remain  of  the  actual  practical  influence 
of  the  traffic  in  strong  liquors  upon  the  very  business  in  which 
themselves  are  engaged. 

Some  few  years  since,  while  laboring  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
under  the  joint  direction  of  the  state  and  city  temperance 
societies,  and  while  in  consultation  with  the  executive  com- 
mittees of  those  associations,  I  heard  some  one  remark  that  the 
treasury  of  the  society  was  almost  or  quite  empty  —  a  common 
complaint  of  temperance  treasuries,  Mr.  President.  "  Well," 
said  I,  "  gentlemen,  give  me  your  subscription  book,  and 
proper  authority,  and  I  will  go  abroad  to-morrow  among  your 
fellow-citizens,  and  get  you  some  money."  "  That  would  be 
quite  too  bad,"  said  one  gentleman,  "  to  subject  you  to  the 
necessity  of  public  speaking  evenings,  and  begging  during  the 
hours  of  the  day."  "  Nevertheless,  it  is  honest,"  I  replied, 
"  and  I  am  willing  to  perform  any  kind  of  service  for  the 
temperance  cause  which  a  man  may,  and  not  do  violence  to 
his  conscience."  Perceiving  that  I  was  quite  in  earnest  in 
what  I  had  proposed,  they  consented,  and  the  book  was  put 
into  my  possession.  One  gentleman  remarked  that  I  should 
need  a  list  of  the  names  of  such  as  would  be  likely  to  aid  the 
object  for  which  I  was  about  to  solicit.  "  Never  mind  that," 
I  replied  ;  "  I  shall  find  out  who  are  friendly.  I  intend  to  take 
the  places  of  business,  on  the  streets  I  shall  visit,  in  course, 
and  if  I  happen  to  drop  in  upon  those  not  friendly  to  the  enter- 
prise, I  will  endeavor  to  make  them  so."  Well,  sir,  the  fol- 
lowing morning  I  commenced  my  labor  at  the  head  of  Wash- 
ington Street,  and  I  assure  you  I  found  some  rich  pickings 
during  the  day.  For  a  few  doors,  it  happened,  for  my 
encouragement,  that  I  met  only  with  friends  of  the  cause,  who 
were  ready  to  acknowledge  and  to  discharge  their  obligations. 
At  length,  I  called  in  at  a  hat  store  on  the  corner  of  Washington 
Street  and  Cornhill.  With  one  of  my  best  bows, — and  they  are 


40  THE    WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM    TRAFFIC 

not  very  genteel, — I  presented  the  object  of  my  visit.  A  very 
fine-looking  young  fellow,  who  seemed  to  be  principal  of  the 
establishment,  replied,  rather  coldly,  that  he  was  not  aware  of 
having  any  particular  interest  in  the  subject,  and  he  had  noth- 
ing to  give  for  the  object  stated.  "  What,  sir,"  said  I,  with 
an  expression  of  surprise,  "  did  I  understand  you  to  say  that 
you  were  not  aware  of  having  any  interest  in  the  subject  I  have 
presented  ?  "  "  Yes,"  he  very  calmly  replied, "  that  was  what  I 
said."  "  Well,  sir,"  said  I,  "  I  regret  to  hear  such  a  remark 
from  you,  as  it  affords  me  sad  evidence  that  you  do  not  under- 
stand your  own  business."  That  was  pushing  plainness  of 
speech  almost  to  the  edge  of  impudence,  I  confess  ;  but  you 
must  jog  men's  elbows  hard,  sometimes,  before  you  can  set  them 
at  thinking.  A  little  heated  by  my  bluntness,  he  remarked, 
with  most  provoking  politeness,  that  if  I  supposed  myselfbetter 
acquainted  with  his  business  than  he  was  himself,  he  should  be 
most  happy  to  take  a  few  lessons  of  me.  "  I  have  no  doubt  I  do 
in  this  matter,"  I  replied,  "and,  if  you  please,  I  will  proceed  to 
instruct  you  forthwith."  This  I  uttered  with  the  utmost  serious- 
ness ;  but  the  seeming  impudence  of  it  carried  the  gentleman 
quite  beyond  the  point  of  irritation,  and  excited  his  bump  of 
mirthfulness.  He  laughed  in  my  face. 

The  following  dialogue  then  took  place  between  us.  "  Sir, 
you  deal  in  hats,  and  intend  to  make  a  little  money  on  every  hat 
you  sell."  "  Yes."  "  Whatever  sends  additional  customers  to 
your  counter,  and  increases  their  ability  to  purchase,  promotes 
your  interest,  does  it  not  ?  "  "  Certainly."  "  Whatever  destroys 
men's  ability  to  purchase,  and  makes  them  content  to  wear  old, 
worn-out  hats,  does  your  craft  an  injury,  does  it  not  ? " 
"  Very  true."  "  Well,  sir,  if  you  and  I  were  to  walk  out  for 
an  hour  or  two,  through  the  streets  and  lanes,  and  along  the 
wharves  of  the  city,  we  should  see  scores  of  men  with  old, 
miserable,  slouched  hats  on  their  heads  —  hats  which  ought, 
years  ago,  to  have  been  thrown  into  the  "dock  or  the  fire. 
Now,  sir,  what  hinders  those  men,  that  they  do  not  condemn 
the  old  head-dress^  and  walk  up  to  your  counter  and  purchase 


ON    USEFUL    OCCUPATIONS.  41 

a  hat  from  your  excellent  and  extensive  assortment  ?  "  "  That," 
he  replied,  "  is  not  a  difficult  question  to  answer.  The  men 
are  too  poor ;  they  have  not  the  money  to  spare,  I  suppose.'"' 
"  Very  true,  sir.  But,  if  you  please,  step  a  little  behind  their 
present  poverty,  and  tell  me  what,  in  your  opinion,  made  the 
mass  of  them  so  poor  that  they  cannot  buy  a  decent  hat ;  and 
has  so  far  crushed  their  self-respect,  that  they  are  content  to 
sport  old  concerns,  whose  rims  have  been  torn  half  off,  and 
whose  crowns  flap  up  and  down  as  they  walk,  like  the  air- 
valve  of  a  blacksmith's  bellows."  "  Well,  I  do  not " 

"  Hold  ! "  I  exclaimed ;  "  do  not,  I  beg  of  you,  say  you  do  not 
know ;  but  think  one  minute."  He  again  broke  forth  in  laugh- 
ter, and  at  length  replied,  "  Well,  sir,  if  you  must  have  it,  J 
suppose  it  was  the  work  of  rum"  "  Exactly  so,  sir.  I  thought 
you  would  see  the  subject  in  its  right  light,  with  a  very  little 
assistance  and  reflection ;  and  now,  do  you  not  begin  to  dis- 
cover, sir,  that  you  made  a  mistake,  when  you  asserted,  a  few 
moments  since,  that  you  had  no  interest  in  the  subject  of  tem- 
perance ?  There  are  thousands  of  poor  topers  and  tipplers  in 
this  city,  who  expend  every  cent  they  get,  beyond  what  pur- 
chases the  bread  that  feeds  them,  at  the  dram-shops ;  and  you 
will  never  get  any  patronage  from  them  unless  they  become 
sober  men.  But,  sir,  let  one  of  them  go  up  to  Washingtonian 
Hall,  sign  the  temperance  pledge,  take  the  good  counsel  which 
will  there  be  given  him,  and  live  up  to  the  principle  and  prac- 
tice of  total  abstinence,  and  he  will  not  wear  the  old  slouched 
hat  eight  weeks.  The  change  in  his  habits  will  be  discovered 
by  his  acquaintances  ;  and  some  friend  who  has  known  him  from 
a  boy  here,  or  who  came  from  the  same  part  of  the  country, 
and  has  observed  his  downward  course  with  deep  regret,  will, 
now  that  the  good  work  of  reformation  has  begun,  feel  a 
strong  desire  to  strengthen  his  good  resolutions,  and  encourage 
him  in  well-doing.  If  he  cannot  command  means  to  improve 
his  dress,  means  will  be  furnished  by  some  such  friend.  He  will 
go  to  some  of  your  excellent  clothing  stores,  and  get  new  gar- 
ments, and  then  walk  up  to  your  store  perhaps,  and  purchase  - 
4* 


THE   WARFARE    OF   THE   RUM   TRAFFIC 

a  new  hat.  You  will  put  the  profit  of  the  trade  in  your  pock- 
et—  gains  which  you  would  never  have  received,  but  for  the 
temperance  efforts  of  some  of  your  fellow-citizens.  And,  when 
I  call  on  you  as  an  humble  servant  of  the  cause,  and  ask  you  for 
a  trifle  to  aid  in  carrying  forward  the  work,  you  will,  perhaps 
give  me  the  cold  shoulder,  and  tell  me  you  are  not  aware  of 
having  any  interest  in  the  subject." 

Mr.  President,  feeble  as  was  his  assailant,  the  man  was  con- 
quered. He  saw  the  mistake  he  had  made,  and  his  hand  found 
the  way  to  his  pocket  with  amazing  rapidity.  He  handed  me 
a  dollar,  and  remarked,  "  Sir,  I  never  saw  the  subject  before 
m  the  light  you  have  presented  it."  But  why  had  he  failed  to 
do  so  ?  The  facts  were  all  before  his  eyes,  as  well  as  mine. 
3ir,  he  had  not  given  the  subject  sufficient  consideration  to  be 
able  to  see  the  direct  influence  of  the  traffic  and  use  of  strong 
drinks  on  the  business  in  which  he  was  engaged. 

An<3  thus  it  is,  sir,  with  thousands.  They  have  eyes  -sharp 
enough  to  discover  how  their  business  is  likely  to  be  affected 
by  tariffs  and  railroad  improvements ;  by  changes  in  our  com- 
mercial policy,  or  the  state  of  Europe ;  by  the  failure  of  the 
drops,  or  the  discovery  of  gold  mines  on  the  other  side  of  the 
continent.  But  they  do  not  see,  that  a  vile  system,  directly  in 
their  midst,  a  branch  of  business  carried  on  within  a  stone's 
cast  of  their  doors,  is  taxing  them  more  heavily,  and  eating 
larger  holes  into  the  yery  roots  of  their  prosperity,  than  any 
other  evil  which  curses  community. 

And  it  is  because  the  business  men  of  community  do  not 
investigate  this  subject,  to  learn  the  bearings  of  the  rum  traffic 
on  the  particular  business  in  which  they  are  engaged,  that  I, 
as  an  humble  advocate  of  the  temperance  reform,  have  felt 
called  upon,  of  late,  to  press  on  the  attention  of  those  who  have 
listened  to  me  the  particular  branch  of  the  subject  to  which  I 
have  invited  your  attention  this  evening.  I  know  it  may  be 
said,  that  in  the  view  of  the  subject  I  have  been  laboring  to  pre- 
sent, the  appeal  is  not  made  to  men's  benevolence,  but  to  their 
selfishness.  Very  true.  But,  nevertheless,  if  an  intelligent 


ON   USEFUL    OCCUPATIONS.  43 

view  of  the  vile  injustice  of  the  liquor  traffic,  and  its  injurious 
effect  on  the  pecuniary  interests  of  men,  shall  have  the  effect 
to  direct  their  efforts  against  the  system  of  which  I  complain, 
until  it  shall  be  annihilated,  the  ends  of  benevolence  and 
humanity  will  have  been  secured.  But,  sir,  to  return  from 
this  digression  to  our  proper  subject. 

I  demand,  in  the  name  arid  behalf  of  all  useful  occupations 
among  men,  that  this  nuisance  of  the  rum  traffic  be  abated. 
There  is  no  place  for  it  in  the  social  system  among  that 
brotherhood  of  trades  and  branches  of  business  which  exist 
for  the  supply  of  our  natural  wants.  What  does  the  grog- 
seller  furnish  to  the  list  of  valuable  commodities  ?  Sir,  he  is 
a  producer,  beyond  dispute.  No  one  will  presume  to  question 
that  he  is  a  manufacturer.  But  what  does  he  produce  ? 
What  is  the  manufactured  article  with  which  he  proposes  to 
bless  his  fellow-men  ?  It  is,  when  finished,  the  thing  called 
drunkard.  He  builds  or  leases  a  shop,  furnishes  it  with  all 
necessary  apparatus —  demijohns,  decanters,  glasses,  and  toddy- 
sticks  —  with  villanous  mixtures  of  various  strength  and  complex- 
ion, and  then  commences  operations.  He  takes  the  raw  mate- 
rial, which  he  is  about  to  operate  upon,  from  the  happy  homes  of 
his  fellow-citizens,  and,  after  passing  it  through  a  variety  of  op- 
erations, he  turns  off  the  manufactured  article,  —  a  drunkard  ! 
Sir,  I  am  not  surprised  that  such  manufacturers  are  ashamed 
of  their  work  when  it  is  finished.  The  branch  of  business 
they  follow  is,  I  believe,  the  only,  one  carried  on  in  Connecticut 
which  turns  off  a  manufactured  article  worth  less  than  the 
raw  material.  Sir,  I  repeat  that  I  am  not  surprised  they  are 
ashamed  of  their  work  —  that  they  do  not  wish  the  credit 
of  the  job.  The  blacksmith  takes  a  bar  of  iron,  heats  it  at  his 
forge,  and,  upon  his  anvil,  gives  it  another  form,  and  we 
have  a  horseshoe.  The  shoe  is,  when  finished,  worth  more 
than  the  iron  of  which  it  was  made.  That  man  need  not  be 
ashamed  of  his  work.  So  the  shoemaker  takes  into  his  hands 
some  bits  of  leather,  and,  employing  his  skill  upon  them,  he, 
in  a  short  time,  turns  you  off  a  pair  of  shoes  or  boots — articles 


44  THE    WARFARE    OF    THE    RUM   TRAFFIC 

worth  much  more  than  the  raw  material  of  which  they 
were  fashioned.  So  with  every  useful  trade.  The  cotton 
cloth  which  is  brought  from  the  mill  is  worth  much  more  than 
the  cotton  when  carried  there  in  the  bale.  Not  so  with  cer- 
tain other  manufacturing  establishments  of  Bloomfield.  The 
raw  material  is  rendered  less  valuable  at  every  successive 
step  in  the  process  of  transformation  ;  and  when  their  work  is 
done,  as  I  have  before  hinted,  they  are  ashamed  of  it.  Go 
into  a  village  in  which  there  are  but  two  grog-selling  establish- 
ments, all  told,  and  if  you  shall  find  a  man  drunk  in  the 
public  streets,  it  is  not  one  time  in  ten  that  you  can  find  a 
citizen  who  will  acknowledge  he  sold  him  the  liquor.  Go  to 
Mr.  Rum-seller  No.  1,  and  ask,  "  Sir,  have  you  furnished  Mr. 
A.  B.,  who  lies  out  here  by  the  street  side,  with  strong  drink 
to-day  ?  "  He  will  answer  in  the  negative.  Point  his  neigh- 
bor, Grog-seller  No.  2,  to  the  prostrate  form  of  that  fellow- 
being,  and  ask  if  that  be  a  specimen  of  his  handicraft,  and 
he  will  declare  to  you,  perhaps,  that  the  individual  has  not 
been  to  his  place  of  business  for  a  week.  And  yet  you 
know  that  the  man  must  have  obtained  the  poison  at  one  of 
those  establishments.  There  are  -no  others  of  the  kind  in  the 
village.  The  man  came  in  sober,  and  you  know  he  did  not 
bring  rum  with  him,  for  if  he  had,  he  would  have  been  drunk 
when  he  reached  the  village.  Here  now  has  been  a  piece  of 
work  done  which  none  will  acknowledge.  Nor  can  we  wonder 
Nineteen  times  in  twenty,  the  men  who  will  now  engage  in 
a  business  producing  such  results  will  speak  falsely  in  relation 
to  any  matter  connected  with  it,  if  the  utterance  of  truth 
might  subject  them  to  censure  or  punishment.  How  different 
is  the  course  pursued  by  men  who  are  engaged  in  useful  and 
honest  employments !  I  have  noticed  that  most  of  our  man- 
ufacturers seem  quite  proud  of  their  work.  They  send  out  their 
goods  with  their  own  proper  name  attached  to  them.  They 
label,  number,  and  box  them  up  in  good  style ;  and  you  may 
generally  learn,  by  looking  at  a  package  of  goods  in  Chicago 
or  St.  Louis,  at  which  of  our  New  England  villages  they  were 


ON    USEFUL    OCCUPATIONS.  45 

produced,  and  even  the  particular  name  of  the  manufacturer. 
But,  sir,  our  rum-sellers  do  not  mark  their  goods  ;  they  —  O,  I 
am  wrong  —  they  do  put  their  mark  on  them,  but  do  not  add 
their  names.  They  label  their  goods  so  that  they  are  easily 
distinguishable  from  all  others ;  but  they  do  not  box  them  up 
for  the  market,  for  they  are  not  salable  commodities.  Their 
goods  are  boxed  up,  but  it  is  done  at  the  public  expense. 
Some  of  the  results  of  their  labor  and  skill  you  will  find  in 
the  jails ;  some  in  the  state  prisons ;  some  in  our  almshouses 
and  hospitals  ;  and  some  in  smaller  boxes,  which  are  im- 
mediately deposited  in  the  earth  ;  and,  sir,  community  has  to 
pay  for  the  boxing — every  nail  and  every  screw.  They  make 
their  gains  by  spoiling  the  raw  material,  and  not  by  improve- 
ments made  upon  it. 

Whenever  I  could  do  so,  consistently  with  other  engagements, 
I  have  been  present  at  the  Mechanics'  Fairs  in  Boston  and  in 
New  York,  for  it  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  witness  the  prog- 
ress of  the  mechanic  arts,  and  to  obtain  the  evidence  which 
such  occasions  furnish  of  the  increasing  skill  and  ingenuity  of 
my  countrymen.  I  walk  through  the  halls  of  exhibition  with 
great  pleasure,  and  I  see  almost  every  class  of  manufacturers 
there,  with  specimens  of  their  goods,  their  work ;  and  with 
evident  pride  they  arrange  them  before  the  judges,  and  demand 
a  premium.  But,  sir,  among  all  classes  who  have  thus  pre- 
sented the  products  of  their  labor  and  skill,  and  demanded 
premiums,  I  have  never  met  there  a  drunkard-maker;  ani 
yet,  sir,  a  grog-seller  could  undoubtedly  bring  in  some  pretty 
strongly-marked  specimens  —  some  which,  I  doubt  not,  would 
attract  more  attention  than  any  patent  corn-sheller  or  shingle 
machine  which  has  appeared  at  the  Fairs  for  the  last  ten  years. 
But,  sir,  they  do  not  take  their  work  to  the  Fair,  and  for  the 
best  of  reasons  :  they  spoil  the  raw  material ;  and  O,  sir,  what 
a  material  to  spoil !  If  it  were  iron,  wood,  leather,  cotton,  or 
any  other  material  which  has  no  feeling,  no  intelligence,  no 
gentle  affection,  no  soul,  or  responsibilities,  we  could  more 
easily  forgive  them  for  the  wrong  they  are  doing ;  but  they 


46  WARFARE   OF   THE   RUM   TRAFFIC. 

take  our  young  men,  the  hope  and  pride  of  their  parents,  the 
expectation  and  glory  of  the  state,  immortal  beings,  made  in 
the  image  of  God,  and  gifted  with  wonderful  powers,  and, 
after  passing  them  through  a  variety  of  operations  and  in- 
fluences, they  turn  them  out  poor,  miserable,  fjlthy,  drivelling 
drunkards.  They  see  the  mischief  and  misery  they  are  pro- 
ducing, and  yet  they  go  on  as  if  they  were  blessing  their  fellow- 
men. 

But,  sir,  I  must  draw  these  remarks  to  a  close,  for  I  perceive 
the  evening  is  far  spent.  The  view  of  the  subject  I  have 
presented  is  not,  by  any  means,  the  highest  we  should  take 
of  this  great  question  now  at  issue  between  the  friends  of 
temperance  and  those  who  oppose  their  influence.  The  direct 
effects  of  the  baneful  system  I  am  condemning  is  to  disease 
the  bodies,  debase  the  intellects,  deprave  the  morals,  alienate 
or  crush  the  social  affections,  and  finally  destroy  the  lives  and 
souls  of  men  ;  and  these  results  have  claims  on  our  considera- 
tion infinitely  stronger  than  any  matter  of  dollars  and  cents  ; 
and  yet  no  view  of  this  giant  curse  of  our  country  would  be 
complete,  as  it  seems  to  me,  which  did  not  embrace  the  war- 
fare of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  on  useful  trades  and 
occupations,  and  the  palpable  violation  of  the  eternal  princi- 
ples of  right  and  justice  involved  in  its  continuance.  God 
grant  that,  by  such  ristru mentalities  as  it  may  please  him  to 
employ  and  to  bless,  that  traffic  may  speedily  be  brought  to  a 
perpetual  end. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  EVIL  OF  INTEM- 
PERANCE, AS  SEEN  IN  ITS  EFFECTS  ON 
COMMUNITIES,  STATES,  AND  NATIONS. 


A  DISCOURSE  DELIVERED  AT  MANCHESTER,  CONNECTICUT, 
DECEMBER  31,  1848. 

REPORTED   PHONOGRAPHICALLY,   BY  H.   E.   ROCKWELL. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  — 

THOSE  who  are  engaged  in  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks, 
and  many  others,  who,  with  them,  labor  to  sustain  and  perpet- 
uate it,  often  complain  that  the  friends  of  temperance,  in  their 
efforts  to  promote  the  enterprise  in  which  they  are  engaged, 
misrepresent  the  character  of  that  traffic  ;  that  they  do  not 
keep  themselves  within  the  bounds  of  truth,  but  make  exag- 
gerated statements  ;  and  that,  in  their  denunciations  of  the 
traffic,  they  use  language  unwarrantably  harsh,  &c.  That 
individuals  have,  in  connection  with  this  subject,  as  well  as  all 
others,  sometimes  uttered  what  was  not  strictly  true,  or  war- 
ranted by  the  facts  in  the  case,  I  have  no  doubt ;  but  the  very 
nature  of  the  subject  will,  as  it  seems  to  me,  forever  preclude 
the  possibility  of  any  very  grievous  error,  on  our  part,  of  the 
character  complained  of.  When  we  have  thoroughly  explored 
the  language  used  among  us,  grouped  together  its  strongest 
terms,  and,  with  all  the  ingenuity  and  skill  with  which  any 
man  ever  employed  language,  have  endeavored  to  express  the 
injustice  and  vileness  of  that  traffic,  and  to  describe  the  hor- 


48  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE 

rible  results  of  it  on  all  the  great  interests  of  society  and  man, 
we  shall  have  fallen  infinitely  below  the  reality.  All  we  can 
hope  to  do  is,  from  time  to  time,  to  present  particular  aspects 
of  this  giant  curse  of  the  world  —  to  roll  it  round,  as  it  were, 
and  present  to  the  gaze  of  an  injured  and  suffering  community 
one  of  its  phases  to-day,  another  to-morrow,  and  so  on.  It  is 
only  by  looking  at  detached  portions  or  particular  points  of 
this  Aceldama  that  we  shall  ever  be  able  to  form  any  tolerable 
estimate  of  the  dreadful  whole.  We  can  make  no  approach 
to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  subject  in  any  other  way. 
It  was  never  given  to  mortal  man  to  take  in  at  one  view  all 
the  features  of  this  terrible  curse.  An  angel  from  heaven 
could  not  do  it.  The  most  exalted  of  created  beings,  if  on 
earth,  and  permitted  to  see  all  that  might  be  seen  in  connection 
with  the  curse  of  intemperance,  could  not,  with  the  exercise 
of  his  angelic  powers,  portray  to  the  mind  all  which  should  be 
added  to  make  the  picture  complete.  The  infinite  mind  and 
eternity  can  alone  unfold  the  whole  truth.  Nor  would  it  be 
desirable  to  give  utterance  to  the  whole  truth,  did  we  possess 
the  power  ;  for  if  such  portions  of  it  as  we  may  and  can  pre- 
sent will  not  excite  men  to  detest  and  abhor  the  system  which 
produces  such  havoc  with  whatever  is  sacred  or  dear  to  our 
race,  we  may  well  despair  of  moving  them  by  any  considerations 
drawn  from  heaven,  earth,  or  hell.  I  would  not,  if  I  possessed 
the  power,  present  to  the  minds  of  those  whom  I  now  address 
a  full  view  of  all  the  results  of  the  rum  traffic  which  have 
occurred  in  this  town  of  Manchester  for  the  last  twenty  years. 
It  would  subject  many  of  those  before  me  to  absolute  torture.  It 
would  overwhelm  their  sensibilities,  and  drive  them  to  madness. 
And  yet  we  are  charged  with  exaggeration,  with  presenting  a 
distorted  view  of  the  subject.  But,  sir,  so  far  from  the  truth 
are  such  charges,  that,  for  one,  I  confess  that  I  am  often  sur- 
prised that  men  can  talk  so  coolly  in  relation  to  the  matter,  and 
that  they  can  content  themselves  with  such  meagre  and  imper- 
fect views  of  the  subject  as  many  seem  to  entertain.  Why  is 
it  that  the  mass  of  the  citizens  of  this  town  remain  so  uncon- 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  49 

cerned  and  inactive  in  relation  to  this  subject  ?  I  believe  that  it 
is  because  they  have  formed,  as  yet,  no  just  conception  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  evil ;  and  I  have  little  hope  of  being  able  to 
induce  many  of  your  citizens  to  take  hold  of  the  work  of 
reform  in  earnest,  unless  we  can  succeed  in  impressing  their 
minds  with  sounder  views  of  the  subject.  You  cannot  pur- 
suade  a  sane  and  sensible  man  to  wield  a  sledge-hammer  of 
twenty  pounds'  weight  to  knock  in  the  head  a  mouse  which 
may  have  been  caught  in  his  cupboard.  Put  such  an  instru- 
ment in  his  hand,  for  such  a  purpose,  and  he  will  laugh  at 
your  folly.  But  let  him  be  placed  in  a  room  beside  a  sleeping 
but  unchained  tiger,  and  let  him  distinctly  understand  that 
there  is  no  safety  for  him  but  in  the  destruction  of  the  animal, 
and  he  will  not  think  your  sledge-hammer  too  heavy.  On  the 
contrary,  he  will  concentrate  whatever  physical  power  he  may 
possess  in  a  single  blow,  and  when  the  sledge  shall  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  head  of  the  beast,  it  will  not  be  surprising  if  it  should 
disturb,  at  once,  his  slumbers  and  his  recollection  of  past  events. 
Employ  an  individual  to  pump  the  water  out  of  your  well,  if 
you  shall  find  it  necessary  to  do  so,  and  contract  to  pay  him  a 
dollar  a  day  and  his  board  ;  and,  although  he  may  toil  through 
the  day,  it  is  doubtful  whether,  at  any  particular  time,  he  will 
move  the  pump  break  so  rapidly  that  you  shall  be  unable  to 
count  the  strokes,  and  you  may  even  have  cause  to  think  him 
a  little  wanting  in  energy.  Now,  put  that  same  individual  on 
board  a  ship,  and  let  him  be  informed  by  the  officers  that  the 
ship  has  sprung  a  leak,  and  is  fast  settling  into  the  water,  and 
that,  if  they  succeed  in  keeping  her  afloat  for  a  certain  length 
of  time,  they  may  be  able,  by  the  help  of  their  sails,  to  reach 
the  shore,  arid  that  otherwise  they  must  all  go  to  the  bottom 
together ;  —  under  such  circumstances,  station  that  man  at  the 
pump,  and,  though  he  be,  by  nature,  the  most  lazy  fellow  in 
Manchester,  he  will  work,  and  that  with  energy.  He  will 
move  that  pump  brake  as  though  he  was  working  by  the  job. 
And  this  is  natural  enough.  Men  do  not  put  forth  all  their 
powers  to  obtain  what  they  esteem  a  slight  advantage,  or  tc 
5 


50  CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE 

avoid  some  slight  evil.  Their  efforts  generally  bear  proportion 
to  their  estimate  of  the  good  to  be  obtained,  or  the  evil  to 
be  avoided. 

Hence  the  feeble  efforts  put  forth  by  many  who  profess  at- 
tachment to  the  temperance  cause  ;  and  hence  their  readiness 
to  discontinue  their  efforts,  whenever  difficulties  or  obstacles 
present  themselves. 

When  such  men  as  Edwards,  Sargent,  and  Pierpont,  who 
have  investigated  this  subject  carefully  and  thoroughly,  give 
utterance  to  their  convictions  of  the  truth  concerning  it,  you 
are  startled,  and  sometimes  half  inclined  to  conclude  that  a 
generous  enthusiasm  carries  such  men  into  the  region  of  ex- 
travagance, and  that  they  draw  largely  on  their  imagination, 
when  they  are  merely  stating  the  result  of  their  actual  investi- 
gations, and  the  conclusion  which  sound  logic  has  drawn  from 
the  facts  before  them.  I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  astonishment 
depicted  in  many  countenances,  when  John  Pierpont  uttered, 
before  a  congregation  of  the  people  of  Worcester,  the  follow- 
ing great  truth :  "  Fellow-citizens,  there  must  be  no  com- 
promise with  this  dreadful  enemy.  We  must  kill  it,  or  it  will 
kill  some  of  us,  or  our  dear  children."  This  was  uttered,  to 
be  sure,  in  the  most  impressive  manner  imaginable.  But  what 
was  there  in  the  sentiment  to  excite  surprise  in  any  individual 
who  had  studied  the  subject,  or  had  his  eyes  fully  open  to  see 
what  was  passing  in  the  world  around  him  ?  Absolutely 
nothing. 

When  lived  there  a  generation  of  men,  in  any  civilized  land 
under  heaven,  of  which  a  very  considerable  portion  was  not, 
by  the  system  we  are  considering,  doomed  to  all  the  miseries 
of  a  drunkard's  life,  and  to  all  the  hopelessness  and  infamy  of 
a  drunkard's  death  ?  It  will  be  found  a  difficult  matter,  I  ap- 
prehend, to  put  a  man  to  sleep  over  this  evil  who  has  taken  its 
gauge  and  dimensions.  Hence,  in  my  public  discourses,  and 
with  my  pen,  I  have  enjoined  it  upon  those  I  have  labored  to 
enlist  in  the  temperance  enterprise,  not  only  to  observe  close- 
ly the  practical  workings  of  the  rum  traffic  in  their  particular 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  51 

communities,  and  to  reflect  long  and  earnestly  upon  them,  but 
also  to  read  much  on  the  subject,  and  thus  enlarge  and  correct 
their  own  views  of  it,  and  be  better  prepared  to  perform  intel- 
ligently and  energetically  the  duties  which  may  devolve  upon 
them  in  connection  with  it.  But  I  am  devoting  too  large  a 
portion  of  our  time  to  preliminaries,  and  will  hasten  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  subject  I  have  selected  for  this  evening's  dis- 
course —  the  characteristics  of  the  evil  of  intemperance,  or  those 
features  which  distinguish  it  from  other  evils  afflicting  com- 
munity, and  which  may  claim  for  it  the  appellation  of  the  giant 
curse  of  the  civilized  world  ! 

The  curse  of  intemperance  was  peculiar  in  its  origin.  Af- 
ter God  had  cleansed  the  earth  from  its  pollution  by  the  deluge, 
drunkenness  was  the  first  sin  committed,  of  which  we  have 
account  in  the  sacred  record.  The  part  which  Satan  had  acted 
before  the  flood,  the  intoxicating  cup  reenacted  afterward ; 
which  very  naturally  suggests  a  relationship  between  those  two 
agencies.  For  myself,  I  believe  they  are  much  nearer  related 
than  second  cousins.  They  are  both  insidious  in  their  attacks 
—  obtain  iheir  influence  over  men  by  large  promises  of  good — 
while  they  bestow  evils  -incalculable.  They  have  both  prom- 
ised to  make  men  like  gods,  by  large  accessions  to  their  wis- 
dom ;  and  yet  both  have  taught  us  only  evil. 

If  I  were  disposed  to  run  the  parallel  further,  I  might  sug- 
gest, that  the  animal  into  whom  Satan  originally  entered,  for 
the  purpose  of  accomplishing  his  work  of  death,  bears,  in  some 
of  his  attitudes,  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  worm  of  the  still. 
I  will  not,  however,  waste  our  time,  and  exhaust  your  patience 
by  further  speculations  in  that  line  ,  remarking,  merely,  before 
we  take  our  leave  of  this  topic,  that,  in  my  opinion,  the  history 
of  the  first  vineyard  and  its  products  is  eminently  calculated 
to  afford  mankind  more  instruction  than  they  seem  to  have 
derived  from  it.  With  my  view  of  the  subject,  I  would  as  soon 
plant  my  acres  with  nice  cuttings  of  the  Bohon  Upas,  as  with 
the  vine,  if  the  products  of  my  vineyard  were  to  be  employed  in 
the  production  of  fermented  wines.  May  God,  in  great  mercy, 


52  CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE 

send  blasting  and  mildew  on  the  products  of  every  acre  of 
American  soil,  which  shall  be  devoted  to  the  production  of  in- 
toxicating wines,  to  be  employed  as  a  beverage  by  our  country- 
men. O,  let  them  cultivate,  at  great  expense,  if  they  will, 
thorns  and  thistles,  briers  and  brambles  ;  and  let  the  thick  growth 
of  these,  with  all  noxious  and  hurtful  weeds,  be  the  chosen 
home  of  asps  and  scorpions,  of  vipers,  tarantulas,  and  the  dead- 
ly rattlesnake ;  and  then  send  your  children  to  it  as  a  play- 
ground, rather  than  train  them  to  the  habit  of  lifting  the  intox- 
icating cup,  which  has  cursed  the  earth  with  drunkenness  and 
its  woes  since  the  days  of  Noah,  and  which  will  continue  to 
curse  it  while  the  fiery  products  of  the  still,  or  fermented 
and  intoxicating  wines,  shall  be  used  as  a  beverage  by  our 
fellow-men. 

Another  striking  peculiarity  of  the  evil  of  intemperance,  is 
its  universality. 

Visit  any  portion  of  the  civilized  world,  and  inquire  after 
the  causes  of  poverty,  degradation,  and  crime,  and  you  will 
find  the  employment  of  unnatural  stimulants  to  be  among  the 
earliest  and  most  fruitful.  Opium,  arrack,  and  vile  drugs, 
with  the  names  of  which  I  am  not  familiar,  constitute  the  giant 
curse  of  China,  whose  civilization  is  of  rather  a  questionable 
character.  The  various  kinds  of  distilled  spirits,  and  that  vile 
compound,  ale,  or  strong  beer,  is  a  heavier  curse  to  England 
than  her  national  debt ;  and  whiskey  has  proved  a  worse  poison 
to  Ireland  than  English  rule.  Not  a  nation  in  Europe  but  is 
groaning  under  the  curse  imposed  by  the  fermenting  vat  and 
the  still.  If  we  withdraw  our  gaze  from  the  old  world,  and  fix 
it  on  the  new,  we  see,  in  every  part  of  our  continent,  the 
ravages  of  this  terrible  destroyer. 

As  no  civilized  land  escapes  this  plague,  so  no  part  of  any 
land  escapes.  Other  evils  which  at  times  afflict  us  sorely  are 
confined  to  particular  portions  of  the  country.  While  pesti- 
lence or  storms,  drought  or  frost,  or  such  a  failure  of  the 
crops  from  any  cause  as  shall  produce  famine,  are  generally 
confined  to  particular  sections,  or  portions  of  the  land,  the 


EVIL    OF   INTEMPERANCE.  53 

curse  of  intemperance  claims  every  acre  as  its  own.  East, 
west,  north,  and  south,  must  each  contribute  to  swell  the  cata- 
logue of  its  victims  and  the  history  of  its  woes. 

Storms  may  baffle  the  skill  or  defy  the  power  of  our  sea- 
men, and  make  sad  havoc  with  our  commerce ;  but  while  the 
noble  ship  is  going  to  pieces  on  the  rocks  of  our  hard  New 
England  coast,  and  men  and  merchandise  are  by  every  surge 
consigned  to  destruction,  the  good  people,  ten  miles  in  the  in- 
terior, are,  it  may  be,  sleeping  in  safety  in  their  beds,  or  pursu- 
ing, without  interruption,  their  ordinary  avocations.  The  storm 
does  riot  assail  their  immediate  interests,  or  threaten  their  lives. 
But  this  curse  of  intemperance  scatters  its  wrecks  as  well  over 
the  interior  as  on  the  coast.  The  dreaded  cholera  may  spread 
consternation  and  death  over  one  part  of  our  land,  while  other 
portions  are  permitted  to  escape  ;  but  the  curse  of  strong  drink, 
more  fatal  and  terrible  than  cholera,  leaves  no  nook  or  cor- 
ner uncursed  by  its  visitations. 

Again,  most  other  evils,  even  those  which  claim  and  receive 
much  consideration,  are  in  their  results  confined  to  one  or  more 
of  the  interests  of  society ;  while  the  curse  of  intemperance 
lays  its  hand  on  them  all.  Frost  may  cut  off  the  hopes  of  the 
farmer,  while  his  neighbor,  the  manufacturer,  who  sends  the 
largest  part  of  his  goods,  and  draws  most  of  his  supplies,  from 
some  distant  market,  does  not  materially  suffer  ;  and  drought, 
while  it  may  injure  agriculture,  and,  if  long  continued,  reach 
the  manufacturing  interest,  cannot  directly  reach  commerce. 
The  good  ship,  on  her  way  across  the  ocean,  does  not  lack  for 
water,  though  not  enough  has  fallen  on  shore  to  refresh  the 
thirsty  earth,  or  move  the  wheels  of  the  manufacturer.  The 
educational  interests  are  not  immediately  affected  by  the 
drought,  nor  is  domestic  happiness,  or  the  public  morals.  None 
of  these,  however,  escape  the  awful  scourge  of  intemperance. 
Yet  men,  who  can  with  deep  interest  read  column  after  col- 
umn of  our  public  journals,  filled  with  accounts  of  the  effects  of 
droughts,  frost,  or  storms,  will  throw  down,  with  exclamations 
of  anger  or  disgust,  a  paper  which  shall  have  half  as  much 
5* 


54  CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE 

space  in  its  columns  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  this  uni 
versal,  all-pervading  curse.     Why  is  this  ?     Evidently  because 
such    individuals  do  not  properly    estimate   the   relative  im- 
portance of  those  different  matters  which  are,  from  time  to 
time,   pressed  on  their  attention. 

Before  taking  leave  of  this  branch  of  our  subject,  I  must  be 
allowed  briefly  to  reply  to  an  objection  which  has  frequently 
been  urged  against  the  view  I  have  just  presented.  u  How 
can  it  be  possible,"  says  the  objector,  "  that  so  small  a  matter 
as  the  choice  of  our  beverages  can  affect  all  the  interests  of 
society  ?  "  "  You  make  too  much  of  a  glass  of  gin,"  said  one 
individual  to  me,  a  short  time  since.  And  he  added,  "  To  attrib- 
ute to  causes  so  slight  such  widely  extended  and  terrible  results 
is  unphilosophical."  So  it  must  undoubtedly  appear  to  those 
who  will  not  take  time  to  reflect  upon  the  subject.  Before, 
however,  we  can  measure  or  estimate  the  potency  of  any 
cause,  whether  to  produce  good  or  evil,  we  must  know  how  or 
through  what  channel  it  is  to  operate,  or  what  is  the  nature  of 
the  material  on  which  its  power  is  to  be  exerted.  A  spark 
of  fire  will  be  powerless  if  dropped  into  the  ocean ;  but  let  it 
fall  into  the  powder  magazine  of  a  man-of-war  and  its  results 
will  be  of  a  character  not  to  be  sneered  at.  A  half  pint  of 
brandy,  if  poured  on  the  deck  of  a  vessel,  will  do  no  harm, 
but  place  it  in  the  stomach  of  the  man  who  holds  the  helm, 
and  it  may  send  that  vessel  on  the  rocks,  and  every  soul  on 
board  into  eternity,  in  an  hour. 

I  some  time  since  employed,  in  one  of  my  discourses  on 
this  subject,  an  illustration  which,  though  quite  homely,  served 
my  purpose  to  convey  more  clearly  than  I  had  otherwise  been 
able  to  do,  my  view  of  this  particular  subject.  I  said,  we  will 
think  of  a  community,  for  a  moment,  as  a  great  wheel,  of 
which  man  is  the  hub  or  central  point,  and  the  various  interests 
of  society  so  many  spokes,  united  to  and  emanating  from  the  cen- 
tre or  hub.  Each  individual  present  may,  for  the  moment,  fancy 
himself  at  the  very  centre  of  the  social  machinery,  and,  with 
a  sort  of  propriety,  declare  that  all  its  interests  exist  for  him. 
Agriculture  exists  for  me,  to  supply  me  with  food  ;  the  man- 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  55 

ufacturing  interests  have  been  originated,  and  thus  far  per- 
fected, for  my  benefit  or  accommodation  —  to  supply  me  with 
shelter,  clothing,  and  implements  wherewith  to  labor.  They  put 
a  hat  on  my  head,  and  shoes  on  my  feet ;  they  provide  me  a 
watch,  a  pocket-knife,  and  a  pencil,  with  a  thousand  other 
conveniences.  Commerce  exists  for  me  ;  and  although  I  may 
not,  in  the  popular  sense,  own  stock  in  that  noble  ship  which  is 
speeding  her  way  across  the  ocean,  yet^  in  another  and  impor- 
tant sense,  I  have  an  interest  in  that  ship.  She  is  going  on  a 
voyage  for  me  ;  to  bring  to  my  table  the  fruits  of  the  tropics, 
perhaps,  and  thus  increase  the  variety  and  richness  of  my 
food,  or  otherwise  to  contribute  to  my  means  of  enjoyment  or 
improvement.  I  repeat,  then,  individual  man  may  be  con- 
sidered as  the  very  hub  of  the  wheel,  and  the  various  interests 
of  society  as  its  spokes,  while  that  connection,  more  or  less 
direct,  which  all  the  interests  of  society  sustain  to  each  other, 
constitute  the  rim  of  our  wheel,  and  complete  the  social  fab- 
ric. Man  being  the  hub,  there  shoots  forth  in  this  direction 
one  important  spoke  :  and  what  is  that  ?  Agriculture.  Here 
is  another  —  the  manufacturing  interests.  The  third  in  the 
circle  may  be  the  commercial  interests,  if  you  please  ;  the 
fourth,  the  educational  interests  ;  the  fifth,  the  religious  interest 
of  men  ;  the  sixth,  the  social  relations  growing  out  of  the  social 
affections  ;  and  so  on.  These  all  have  a  connection  with  each 
other,  more  or  less  direct ;  and  this  connection  shall,  if  you 
please,  put  on  the  rim  of  our  wheel,  and  complete  the  circle. 

Now,  the  point  to  which  I  wish  particularly  to  direct  your 
attention,  is  the  different  ways  in  which  injurious  influences 
affect  the  great  social  wheel  or  circle,  of  which  man  is 
the  centre.  Most  of  those  evils  reach  man  by  first  attack- 
ing one  of  his  interests.  Frost  may  affect  the  farmer  inju- 
riously. But  consider  how.  While  it  is  destroying  his  crops, 
he  is  quietly  sleeping  in  his  bed.  It  does  not  directly  attack 
his  person,  his  body,  his  intellect,  or  his  social  affections.  It 
reaches  him  through  one  of  his  interests.  It  comes  in  to  him 
at  the  centre,  from  without,  and  through  the  agricultural  spoke. 


56  CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE 

The  man  who  owns  stock  in  some  vessel  may  be  severely 
injured  by  a  storm;  and  yet  it  does  not  beat  on  him.  He  is 
sitting  secure  by  his  own  hearth,  perhaps,  while  that  noble 
ship,  containing  his  treasures,  is  going  to  pieces  on  the  rocks. 
He  feels  not,  at  once,  the  injurious  influence,  and  it  may  be  a 
week  or  two  before  he  learns  that  he  has  been  injured  by  the 
storm.  At  length,  however,  he  is  made  unhappy  by  the  in- 
fluence of  that  storm.  It  reaches  him  through  the  commercial 
spoke  of  the  great  social  wheel. 

Thus  it  is  that  most  of  the  evils  which  afflict  us  reach  us 
from  without,  through  the  channel  of  some  single  interest ; 
and  such  evils  may  be  endured,  because  they  do  not  directly 
assail  all  our  hopes  at  once.  The  farmer,  who  has  lost  his 
corn  crop  by  an  early  frost,  has  not  had  his  social  affections 
frozen.  His  attachment  to  wife,  children,  and  friends  has 
not  lessened  or  loosened.  His  children  will  not  be  hindered 
from  going  to  school  to-day  by  the  frost  of  last  night ;  nor  will 
he  be  prevented,  on  the  morrow,  from  going  to  the  house  of 
God  with  his  Christian  friends,  and,  with  acceptance  and 
delight,  engaging  in, the  worship  of  his  Father  in  heaven.  The 
evil  is  tolerable,  for  it  has  struck  but  one  spoke  of  the  wheel. 
Look  now,  for  a  moment,  at  the  giant  curse  of  the  world. 
How  does  it  reach  those  most  injuriously  affected  by  it  ?  Does  it 
come  in  from  without,  toward  the  centre — man?  No, sir  :  on 
the  contrary,  it  lays  its  hand  at  once  on  man,  standing  there  at 
the  centre  of  that  circle  of  interests,  the  very  hub  of  the  wheel, 
and,  by  diseasing  his  body,  clouding  his  intellect,  alienating 
or  crushing  his  social  affections,  and  depraving  his  moral 
nature,  it  loosens  and  deranges  every  spoke  in  the  wheel. 
Agriculture,  commerce,  the  manufacturing  interest,  education, 
religion,  and  social  happiness,  all  feel  the  blow;  for  these 
depend  not  mainly,  for  their  perfection,  on  the  state  of  the 
weather,  or  other  external  circumstances,  but  rather  on  the 
healthy  condition  of  the  powers,  faculties,  and  affections  of 
men. 

Mr.  President,  we  may  learn  a  little  wisdom  as  to  the  rel- 


BVIL   OF    INTEMPERANCE.  57 

ative  importance  of  injurious  influences,  which  attack  the 
surface  of  things,  as  it  were,  or  a  central  point  of  influence 
and  power,  by  turning  our  eyes  in  almost  any  direction,  and 
with  a  few  moments'  observation  and  reflection.  It  is  a  less 
evil  to  the  country  if  the  postmaster  of  this  town  be  a  vile 
man,  than  if  the  postmaster-general  be  a  rogue  or  a  dunce ; 
for  the  latter  stands  at  the  centre  of  an  extensive  circle.  It  is 
a  greater  calamity  if  the  engine  or  a  main  shaft  of  a  steam- 
boat shall  give  way,  when  she  is  running  close  on  a  lee 
shore,  than  if  she  break  a  float  from  one  of  her  paddle  wheels. 
Go  to  the  shop  of  a  wheelwright  or  carriage-maker,  and  you 
may  see  some  good  farmer  roll  into  his  door  a  wheel,  and 
inquire,  with  considerable  interest,  whether  it  be  possible  so  to 
repair  it  as  that  it  may  yet  be  serviceable.  The  mechanic  will 
apply  his  hammer  to  it,  and  find,  perhaps,  two  or  three  of  the 
spokes  broken,  or  a  piece  of  the  felloe  defective.  Yet  he  is 
not  discouraged ;  and  to  the  question,  whether  the  wheel  can 
be  restored  to  usefulness,  he  answers  in  the  affirmative.  At 
length,  however,  he  is  moved  to  test  the  soundness  of  another 
essential  part ;  and,  as  the  result  of  his  examination,  he  turns 
away,  with  the  exclamation,  "  It  is  of  no  use  to  attempt  to  do 
any  thing  with  it."  "  What  is  the  matter  now  ?  "  inquires  the 
farmer.  "  Why,  sir,  in  addition  to  broken  spokes  and  a 
defective  felloe,  the  hub  is  rotten."  So,  sir,  it  is  with  the 
great  wheel  of  society.  We  can  make  shift  to  get  on  tolera- 
bly well,  though  frost  and  fire,  drought  and  storm,  shall,  from 
time  to  time,  attack  and  seriously  injure  some  of  its  parts  or 
segments  of  the  circle  ;  but  the  curse  of  intemperance  rots  the 
hub.  It  enfeebles  the  physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  powers 
•of  men,  on  the  healthy  condition  and  proper  exercise  of 
which,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  the  preservation  of  all  that 
is  valuable  in  human  society  depends.  And  this  brings  me  to 
the  consideration  of  another  peculiarity  of  that  great  evil  we 
are  considering. 

The  curse  of  intemperance  not  only  tends  to  destroy  what 
has  been  produced  of  good,  but  it  strikes  terrible,  and  some- 
times fatal,  blows  at  the  producing  power. 


58  CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE 

If  I,  with  a  hammer,  or  any  other  heavy  instrument,  should 
break  in  pieces  the  lamp  before  me,  you  would  all  agree  that 
I  had  been  guilty  of  a  very  wrong  act.  I  have  destroyed  an 
object  of  interest  as  well  as  use.  There  is  the  history  of  the 
world  in  that  lamp,  if  we  have  but  the  eye  to  see  it.  Noah 
did  not  light  the  ark  with  lamps  constructed  like  this.  The 
means  employed  by  the  patriarchs  to  give  light  when  the  sun 
had  gone  to  bed  were,  we  have  reason  to  suppose,  quite  rude 
and  imperfect  in  comparison  with  this.  Each  generation 
added  something  to  the  facilities  of  producing  light,  and  so  on, 
age  after  age,  until,  in  1848,  we  produce  such  as  this  before 
me,  and  many  other  beautiful  patterns.  Hence,  sir,  the  lamp 
before  us  affords  other  matter  for  reflection  besides  the  light 
it  furnishes.  It  were  surely  a  wicked  act  to  destroy,  wantonly, 
an  object  of  so  much  interest,  and,  at  the  same  time,  so  useful. 
But,  sir,  if  an  influence  be  set  in  motion  which  shall  enfeeble 
the  intellect  that  planned  that  piece  of  mechanism,  and  palsy 
the  hand  that  fashioned  it,  a  more  serious  injury  has  been 
inflicted  on  society.  When  the  lamp  merely  was  broken,  you 
might  gather  up  the  fragments,  and,  adding  a  little  more  of 
the  material  from  which  it  was  fashioned,  of  which  God  has 
given  us  an  abundance,  you  might  take  it  to  the  glass-house, 
and  there  you  might  find  those  who,  for  a  trifling  reward, 
would  fuse  the  mass  by  the  aid  of  heat,  and  mould  you 
another  so  like  the  one  broken,  that,  were  they  standing  side 
by  side,  you  could  scarcely  distinguish  them.  But  when  you 
have  crippled  that  intellect,  so  wonderfully  constituted,  and 
palsied  that  hand,  so  perfectly  educated  or  skilled  in  the 
mechanic  arts,  you  have  done  a  most  foul  and  accursed  deed, 
which  neither  men  nor  angels  can  repair.  Aside  from  the 
individual  and  immortal  interests  involved  in  the  mischief  you 
have  perpetrated,  you  have  inflicted  a  terrible  injury  on  society, 
by  destroying  its  producing  powers,  the  most  important  of 
which  are  the  intellects  and  educated  muscles  of  men.  The 
frost  or  drought,  that  cuts  off  the  corn  crop,  does  not  dimin- 
ish the  capacity  of  the  soil  to  produce  another  crop,  or  destroy 


•EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  59 

the  skill  and  physical  power  of  the  agriculturist.  But,  sir, 
set  up  a  grog-shop  in  that  vicinity,  and  convert  the  farmers 
into  drunken  loafers,  and  you  have  not  only  unfitted  their 
minds  to  plan,  and  their  hands  to  execute,  but  you  will  cover 
the  soil,  through  their  neglect,  with  thistles  and  thorns,  with 
brieis  and  brambles,  and  break  down  the  enclosures  of  its 
fields,  until  its  capacity  to  produce  shall  be  well  nigh  destroyed. 
And  such,  sir,  is  the  character  of  this  terrible  scourge,  which 
is  doing  its  work  of  destruction  here  in  this  very  town  of 
Manchester. 

Suppose  a  severe  storm  should  visit  us,  and  a  freshet  come 
thundering  along  the  bed  of  our  streams,  tearing  away,  in 
its  course,  bridges,  mills,  &c.  What  then?  No  incurable 
calamity  has  visited  us.  The  freshet  did  not  carry  away  the 
intelligence,  the  skill,  and  energy  of  our  mechanics.  They 
are  left  untouched,  and  the  mischief  will  soon  be  repaired. 
Within  the  next  twenty-four  hours  after  the  storm  has  ceased, 
and  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  are  gazing  with  sad- 
ness on  the  wreck  of  what  was  so  lately  a  beautiful  edifice, 
within  the  walls  of  which  hundreds  found  employment,  some 
ingenious  mechanic  will  discover  the  mistake  of  the  buildens 
which  exposed  the  building  to  the  power  of  the  freshet,  and  will 
assure  you  that,  had  the  underpinning  been  secured  thus  and 
so,  the  building  might  have  defied  the  power  which  has  torn  it 
away.  There,  now,  is  a  human  intellect  already  at  work,  and 
directed  toward  the  repair  of  the  mischief.  Hands  skilled  to 
construct  are  ready,  and  stout  hearts  full  of  energy  are  im- 
pelling them  to  the  toil,  and  soon,  very  soon,  with  the  materi- 
als which  God  has  strown  all  around  them,  another  building 
will  arise,  more  substantial  and  beautiful  than  that  which  was 
swept  away.  New  machinery  will  soon  be  buzzing  there 
again,  and  all  will  go  on  as  if  no  evil  had  happened  ; 
and.,  as  you  pass,  you  shall  hear  the  song  of  the  cheerful 
maiden  at  her  loom,  even  above  the  din  of  rattling  wheels. 
Sir,  you  cannot  arrest  the  onward  march  of  improvement  among 
Yankees  by  any  mischievous  influence  which  aims  only  at 


60  JHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE 

what  their  heads  and  hands  have  produced.  Bu.  impair  the 
powers  of  inventive  brains,  which  seem  but  a  collection  of  all 
conceivable  mechanical  movements,  and  palsy  hands  skilled 
in  mechanic  arts,  and  you  have  marred  the  most  wonderful 
of  the  works  of  God,  —  the  masterpiece  of  the  great  Archi- 
tect,—  and  have  struck  a  blow  at  the  producing  power  of 
human  society,  the  injurious  effects  of  which  may  not  be 
repaired. 

Another  striking  peculiarity  of  the  evil  of  intemperance  is 
its  tendency  to  destroy  the  principle  of  vitality  in  whatever  it 
touches.  You  doubtless  understand  that  alcohol,  the  principal 
mischievous  agent  in  the  varieties  of  intoxicating  drinks  which 
are  vended  in  our  country,  is  always  the  result  of  a  process 
of  decay.  Obtain  it  from  whatever  source  you  may,  the  death 
of  the  vegetable  from  which  you  obtain  it  must  precede  its 
formation  or  extraction.  Vitality  cannot  coexist  with  it.  No 
vegetable  contains  it  while  its  life  continues ;  but  when  all 
vitality  is  extinct,  then  fermentation  takes  place,  and  alcohol  is 
the  first  product  of  the  process  of  decay.  Now,  in  all  its 
influence  on  society  and  man,  alcohol  seems  to  retain  this 
character  of  incompatibility  with  the  principle  of  vitality. 
Death  must  precede  its  march  and  tread  closely  on  its  heels. 
Yet,  while  it  is  doing  the  work  of  death,  it  promises  and 
counterfeits  life.  Many  a  professor  of  Christianity,  after 
taking  a  glass  or  two  of  brandy,  has,  in  the  religious 
meeting,  manifested  unusual  fervency  of  spirit,  religious  zeal 
and  devotion,  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  I  hardly  need  add 
that  all  such  devotion  is  counterfeit,  and  that  while  there  is  this 
external  show  of  religious  life,  that  soul  is  sinking  into  spiritual 
death.  The  church  may  have  its  full  complement  of  members, 
all  the  ordinances  of  religion  may  be  regularly  observed,  and 
yet,  if  the  members  of  that  church  shall  habitually  use  as  a 
drink  any  mixture  of  which  alcohol  forms  a  considerable  part, 
its  vitality  will  soon  be  at  a  low  ebb  ;  it  will  exert  but  little 
influence  toward  Christianizing  the  world.  And  yet  there  may 
be,  externally,  a  fair  show  and  promise  of  life,  while  the 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  61 

extraction  of  vital  Christianity  is  going  on  within  its  com- 
munion. Thus  it  is  with  the  social  relations.  Many  an 
individual,  who  was  never  seen  to  reel  under  the  influence  of 
intoxicating  drinks,  but  whose  constitution  is  daily  subjected  to 
the  influences  of  alcohol,  makes  his  family  quite  miserable, 
while,  to  the  eye  of  the  world,  there  may  be  an  appearance 
of  domestic  enjoyment.  This  may  be  readily  understood,  if 
we  consider  what  is  vital,  or  absolutely  essential  to  domestic 
enjoyment.  Wealth  is  not  an  essential ;  a  high  degree  of 
intellectual  attainments  is  not  indispensably  necessary.  Much 
domestic  enjoyment  may  exist  where  there  is  not  even  a  very 
elevated  standard  of  morals,  judging  them  by  the  Christian 
code.  Two  things  must,  however,  exist,  or  domestic  happiness 
takes  wing  —  real  affection  between  the  parties,  and  confidence 
in  each  other.  Neither  of  these  can  long  survive  and  flourish 
in  the  fumes  of  alcohol.  No  other  influence  ever  brought  to 
bear  on  man  so  soon  alienates  the  social  affections  as  intoxi- 
cating stimulants,  and  the  wife  whose  husband  gives  himself  up 
to  the  habitual  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  will  soon  be  taught,  by 
bitter  experience,  that  she  cannot  place  implicit  confidence  in 
him.  She  is  invited  to  go  with  him  to  a  social  party,  and  she 
accompanies  her  husband,  but  she  carries  with  her  the 
bane  of  enjoyment  —  anxiety  and  continual  fear  lest,  after 
the  wine  cup  shall  have  been  passed  around,  two  or  three 
times,  she  should  be  made  to  blush  for  her  husband,  while  she 
witnesses  his  rude  behavior  and  listens  to  his  silly  remarks. 
She  cannot  have  confidence  that  he  will  bear  himself  like  a 
man  through  the  evening's  entertainment.  She  whispers  her 
fears  to  no  one,  and  strives,  perhaps,  ito  appear  at  ease  and 
happy.  Such  appearance  of  happiness  is,  however,  deceptive. 
That  which  is  vital  to  social  enjoyment  is  not  there.  He 
provides  well  for  his  family,  it  may  be.  There  is  no  want 
of  coal  in  the  grate,  or  food  on  his  table,  and  no  member  of 
his  family  lacks  clothing,  or  the  external  means  of  enjoyment ; 
and  yet  the  members  of  that  family  may  painfully  feel  that  there 
is  in  the  constitution  of  that  husband  and  father,  a  rival  to  their 
6 


62  CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE 

affections.  He  declares  unalterable  and  undying  attach- 
ment to  wife  and  children ;  and  yet  every  one  of  them  may 
know  that  he  loves  something  else  better.  He  would  not 
forego  his  accustomed  glass  to  gratify  them,  or  promote  their 
enjoyment.  A  true  woman  and  wife  will  endure  no  earthly 
rival  in  her  husband's  affections.  Let  her  be  sure  that  such  a 
one  exists,  and  a  fatal  disease  has  attacked  her  own. 

Another  peculiarity  of  the  evil  of  intemperance,  which  it  is 
well  to  glance  at,  for  a  moment,  in  passing,  is,  that  there  are  no 
mitigating  circumstances  attending  its  infliction  which  may 
afford  us  consolation.  Frost,  which  destroys  the  crops,  may,  at 
the  same  time,  check  the  progress  of  epidemic  disease.  A  long 
continued  drought,  which  destroys  some  of  the  farmer's  crops, 
affords  him  a  rare  opportunity  to  improve  the  condition  of  his 
lands  which  are  ordinarily  too  wet  to  work  upon.  He  may 
improve  the  favorable  opportunity  afforded  by  long  continued 
drought  to  bring  home  a  store  of  fuel  from  swampy  lands 
over  which  he  could  not  drive  his  team  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances. Drought  is  not  an  unmitigated  evil.  The  manufac- 
turer may  lack  water  to  turn  his  wheels,  but  the  drought  brings 
to  him  the  best  possible  opportunity  for  repairing  the  dam  by 
which  he  arrests  the  natural  flow  of  the  stream,  and  converts 
it  to  his  purposes.  Fire  is  a  dreaded  evil  in  our  cities,  when 
it  gets  an  undue  ascendency,  and  destroys  millions  of  prop- 
erty annually ;  yet  it  is  not  an  unmixed  evil.  It  often  clears 
out  a  lot  of  old,  miserable  buildings,  which  the  cupidity  of 
owners  have  long  rented  to  the  vile,  for  vile  purposes  ;  thus 
purifying  infested  districts,  which  the  most  vigilant  police  had 
failed  to  do.  But  what  mitigating  circumstances  attend  the 
curse  of  intemperance  in  its  warfare  on  our  fellow-men  and 
their  dearest  interests.  Some  persons,  it  may  be  said,  acquire 
wealth  by  the  traffic.  True  ;  and  some  men  acquire  it  by 
theft  and  knavery,  but  nothing  is  added,  in  either  case,  to  the 
wealth  of  community  by  such  acquisition  ;  for  A  is  made 
poor  while  B  becomes  rich.  In  legitimate  and  honorable  mer- 
cantile transactions,  both  parties  should  be  benefited  by  the 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  63 

traffic  —  the  purchaser  and  consumer,  as  well  as  the  seller. 
In  the  traffic  in  strong  drink,  however,  the  consumer  must  be 
a  sufferer,  while  the  seller  may  be  a  gainer,  so  far  as  money 
and  the  present  moment  are  concerned ;  but  the  traffic  is  almost 
invariably  a  curse  to  the  seller,  in  the  end,  as  well  as  the 
buyer,  because  it  inevitably  corrupts  his  morals,  and,  in  many 
instances,  proves  his  own  ruin,  or  the  ruin  of  some  one  or 
more  members  of  his  family.  A  citizen  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
a  gentleman  of  the  legal  profession,  once  displayed  the  acute- 
ness  of  his  logic,  by  declaring,  in  my  hearing,  that  drunken- 
ness was,  in  one  important  particular,  a  great  blessing  to  a 
community ;  and  when  asked  for  a  further  exposition  of  his 
views,  he  said,  "  it  put  out  of  the  way  a  great  many  poor, 
shiftless  vagabonds,  who  were  a  curse  to  their  families,  and  a 
nuisance  in  society."  The  great  man  seemed  to  have  forgot- 
ten what  influence  had  converted  a  portion  of  his  fellow-citizens 
into  "  poor,  shiftless  vagabonds,"  and  had  rendered  them  "  a 
curse  to  their  families,  and  a  nuisance  in  society."  After  a 
pretty  thorough  examination  of  the  subject,  during  a  period  of 
more  than  twenty-three  years,  I  am  constrained  to  declare  that 
I  know  of  no  mitigating  circumstances  attending  this  destruc- 
tive evil,  as  it  appears  in  New  England.  In  a  vast  majority 
of  cases,  it  has  proved  a  curse  to  the  manufacturer,  the  seller, 
ind  consumers. 

Another  feature  of  the  evil  we  are  considering  is,  the  con- 
stancy of  its  operation.     It  knows  no  intermission. 

War  blows  his  bloody  trump,  and  dire  alarms 
Convulse  the  earth,  while  nations  rush  to  arms  ; 
Earth's  lap  is  with  her  bleeding  children  pressed, 
Each  with  his  bayonet  in  his  brother's  breast. 

And  were  that  terrible  scourge  to  continue  its  ravages,  without 
intermission,  for  centuries,  the  earth  would  be  unpeopled.  But 
with  most  nations,  the  years  in  which  they  are  in  a  state  of 
war  with  neighboring  nations  are  happily  much  fewer  than 
those  in  which  they  are  blessed  with  peace  ;  and  during  these 


64  CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE 

peaceful  yeans,  the  nation  gets  time  to  breathe,  as  it  were. 
The  industrial  pursuits  of  life,  the  public  morals,  education, 
the  arts  and  sciences,  and,  in  short,  all  the  interests  of  humani- 
ty, have  time  to  recover,  in  part  at  least,  from  the  effects  of 
war,  before  that  scourge  and  curse  of  nations  repeats  his 
visit.  Pestilence  is  not  always  sowing  the  air  with  the  seeds 
of  death.  Frost,  drought,  famine,  fire,  and  storms  execute 
their  messages  of  wrath,  and  then,  for  a  season,  bid  us  fare- 
well. Not  so,  however,  with  the  curse  of  intemperance.  Its 
work  of  death  goes  steadily  on,  winter  and  summer,  by  night 
as  well  as  by  day,  in  seasons  of  plenty  and  while  nations  are 
suffering  from  the  visitations  of  famine.  If,  like  pestilence, 
war,  and  many  other  evils,  it  would  occasionally  afford  the 
suffering  earth  a  little  respite,  men  would  have  an  opportunity 
of  contrasting  their  condition,  during  such  periods,  with  their 
condition  during  its  visitations,  and  their  eyes  would  be  opened. 
They  would  set  up  a  standard  against  its  return,  and,  as  its 
origin  or  causes  are  subject  to  the  control  of  man,  it  might 
soon  cease  to  curse  the  earth.  No  such  respite  is,  however, 
afforded  the  suffering  earth  by  the  dreadful  scourge  we  are 
considering.  It  puts  its  cup  of  poison  to  the  lips,  and  throws 
its  veil  over  the  minds  of  each  successive  generation.  No 
portion  of  the  civilized  world,  no  interest  of  mankind,  and  no 
period  of  time,  is  uncursed  by  its  presence  and  power. 

Mr.  President,  there  may  be  other  characteristics  of  this 
terrible  scourge  of  the  world  which  I  have  not  referred  to  in 
the  sketch  I  have  taken,  and  which  ought  not  to  be  omitted ; 
but  they  do  not  at  this  moment  occur  to  me.  I  would  by  no 
means  have  any  individual  present  regard  the  view  I  have 
taken  as  a  full  length  portrait  of  the  curse  of  intemperance. 
It  was  not  my  intention  to  attempt  such  a  one  on  this  occa- 
sion, but  rather  to  point  to  particular  features  of  it,  which 
were  characteristic,  and  distinguish  it  from  other  evils  which 
curse  the  world.  Intemperance  has  destroyed  the  lives  of 
millions.  Thirty  thousand  annually,  according  to  the  most 
careful  calculation,  go  down  to  graves  of  infamy  by  the  use 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  65 

of  strong  drink ;  but  I  have  not  dwelt  on  that  subject,  for  such 
results  are  not  peculiar  to  intemperance,  as  thousands  die 
annually  from  war,  pestilence,  and  the  influence  of  recklessness 
and  imprudence,  as  manifested  in  a  thousand  ways.  Intem- 
perance destroys  millions  of  property ;  but  so  does  fire, 
storm,  &c.  The  destruction  of  property  is  not  peculiar  to 
intemperance,  and  I  have  not  taken  that  item,  therefore,  into 
account  in  the  present  discourse.  It  is  the  less  necessary  that 
we  should  dwell  on  those  points,  as  they  are  observed  by 
every  individual,  and  are  the  subjects  of  frequent  discussion. 
Mr.  President,  I  feel  that  I  ought  not  to  conclude  the  labor 
of  the  evening  without  some  reference  to  an  occurrence  which 
took  place  last  evening,  in  the  village  just  above.  Its  history 
may  serve  to  illustrate  the  dangerous  character  of  the  system 
we  are  tolerating  among  us,  its  injustice  and  inhumanity  ;  and 
may  possibly  excite  us  to  a  more  energetic  performance  of 
our  duties  in  connection  with  this  important  subject.  Just 
after  the  close  of  my  public  labor  last  evening,  and  after  I 
had  taken  my  seat  by  the  hearth  of  one  of  your  citizens,  Mr. 
Carpenter,  I  was  invited  to  go,  as  speedily  as  possible,  to  the 
house  of  a  neighbor  of  his,  to  assist  in  preserving,  if  possible, 
the  life  of  a  young  lad  of  seventeen,  who  had  been  brought 
home  in  a  state  of  complete  insensibility,  and  whose  restora- 
tion seemed  quite  doubtful.  I  hastened  to  the  place,  and  found 
the  young  man  in  a  most  deplorable  condition.  He  had  been 
found  lying  in  the  road,  cold  and  helpless,  wallowing  in  the 
snow,  his  hat  off,  and  his  -head  partially  immersed  in  a  snow 
bank.  Without  assistance,  he  must  soon  have  died ;  and  that 
young  frame,  so  full  of  the  vigor  of  youth  yesterday,  would 
have  been  found,  this  morning,  stiffened  and  cold  as  the  earth 
on  which  it  rested.  He  had  been  carried  to  the  home  of  his 
widowed  mother,  and  the  physician  of  the  village  called  in 
to  assist  the  wretched  family  in  restoring  him,  if  possible. 
Efforts  had  been  making  for  his  restoration  for  a  considerable 
time  before  I  reached  the  house  ;  but  they  had  been  unsuccess- 
ful, and  he  was  still  as  insensible  as  a  clod.  The  young  man 


66  CHARACTERISTICS    OF    THE 

had  not  been  addicted  to  the  habitual  use  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
but,  in  company  with  seven  others,  most  of  whom  were  mere 
boys,  like  himself,  he  had  visited  a  grog-shop,  not  far  distant . 
and  the  result,  in  part,  I  have  already  stated.  Three  others 
beside  himself,  making  four  out  of  the  eight,  had  become 
intoxicated,  and  one  or  two  of  the  number  had,  like  the  young 
man  I  visited,  been  deprived  of  the  power  of  locomotion, 
and  would  have  died  in  the  street  but  for  timely  aid.  By  long 
and  patient  effort,  warmth  was  restored  to  the  almost  frozen 
limbs  of  the  boy,  and,  in  a  few  hours,  his  agonized  mother 
and  sisters  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  restored  to 
consciousness.  Now,  sir,  who  could  be  so  destitute  of  all 
right  principle  and  feeling  as  to  furnish  those  boys  with  the 
means  of  intoxication  ?  It  was  one  of  your  citizens  ;  one 
with  whom  most  of  you  are  acquainted.  He  furnished  them 
with  one  quart  of  distilled  spirits,  which  they  carried  out  of 
the  store  and  drank.  It  was  so  easy  to  get  out  of  the  reach 
of  the  law.  Two  or  three  strides  and  the  party  were  clean 
outside  the  legal  fence  built  by  the  concentrated  wisdom  of  the 
state.  O  most  sapient  and  mighty  legislators,  where  shall  we 
find  language  to  express  our  admiration  of  your  wisdom  ?  No 
offence  to  fill  a  jug  of  poison  for  the  infa-tuated  slave  of  .ap- 
petite, but  he  must  not  drink  it  on  the  premises.  He  might 
be  noisy  and  quarrelsome  if  he  were  to  drink  it  on  the  grog- 
seller's  premises,  and  disturb  the  quiet  of  that  important  func- 
tionary, and  that  most  sacred  place.  Therefore  he  must  not 
"  drink  it  on  the  premises  where  he  Obtains  it,"  but  go  home, 
into  the  bosom  of  his  family,  and  drink  it  there  ;  and  there  let 
the  vile  passions  inflamed  by  strong  drink  have  full  vent,  and 
thus  turn  home  into  a  hell.  After  having  drank  one  quart  off 
the  premises,  as  we  learn,  the  lads  obtained,  of  the  same  gentle- 
man, a  second  quart,  and  drank  it  in  the  store.  They  were 
then  turned  out,  to  find  their  way  home,  if  they  could,  or  die 
in  the  street,  as  they  might.  The  man  who  was  guilty  of  that 
vile  and  infamous  deed  is  a  citizen  of  Manchester ;  and  what  is 
his  reward  for  this  kind  of  work  ?  Why,  he  is  intrusted  with 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  v       67 

an  important  office  under  the  general  government  of  these  United 
States.  He  is  your  postmaster,  and  his  fellow-citizens  must 
have  their  business  communications  —  ay,  more,  their  mes- 
sages of  love  and  friendship  —  from  distant  parts  of  the 
country  all  come  through  that  polluted  channel.  The  mothers 
of  the  vicinity,  whose  sons  are  daily  being  poisoned  at  that 
establishment,  must  go  there  to  get  news  from  another  son  in 
some  distant  part  of  the  country,  who  is,  perhaps,  being 
poisoned  in  the  same  way  by  some  other  titled  villain.  And 
this,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  in  the  town  of  Manchester,  in 
the  Christian  state  of  Connecticut,  abounding  in  schools,  col- 
leges, and  churches  ;  and  we  live  in  the  nineteenth  century ! 
Now,  it  would  seem  that  to  have  deliberately  poisoned  to  death 
the  fathe»of  that  poor  boy  might  have  been  enough  in  the 
way  of  wickedness  for  your  fellow-citizen  Captain  llisley.  [A 
voice  from  some  one  in  the  audience, "  Squire  llisley  !  "]  Ay, 
he  is  also  a  justice  of  the  peace,  or,  I  should  say,  rather,  a 
piece  of  a  justice — and  a  very  small  piece  too.  [Laughter 
and  applause.']  The  wretched  mother  of  that  thoughtless 
young  man  declared  to  me,  last  evening,  while  standing  by 
the  bed  on  which  the  insensible  body  of  the  boy  was  lying, 
that  her  husband  h.ad  often  obtained  from  that  very  establish- 
ment the  intoxicating  poison  that,  within  the  last  year,  had 
laid  him  in  the  grave  ;  and  "  O  sir,"  said  she,  "  was  it  not 
enough  that  I  have  been  made  a  widow  by  the  traffic  of  that 
wicked  man,  and  left  with  the  care  of  a  large  family  resting 
on  me  alone,  and  must  he  now  go  to  work  and  ruin  my  sons  ?  " 
While  listening  to  the  bitter  complaints  of  that  widowed 
mother,  as  she  paced  the  apartment  to  and  fro,  wringing  her 
hands  in  agony,  while  the  tears  were  streaming  down  her 
cheeks,  I  felt,  Mr.  President,  that  we  had  all  of  us  been  too 
remiss  in  the  discharge  of  our  duty — that  this  infamous  traffic 
should  be  brought  to  an  end.  And,  sir,  without  the  slightest 
hesitation,  I  here  declare,  that,  in  view  of  its  palpable  injustice 
and  cold-blooded  cruelty,  I  would,  if  possessed  of  despotic 
power,  protect  the  weak,  the  innocent,  and  defenceless,  who 


68     '  CHARACTERISTICS    OF   THE 

are  thus  made  to  suffer  by  it,  from  further  wrong,  or  I  would 
give  the  heartless  wretches  engaged  in  that  traffic  an  opportu- 
nity to  obtain  their  light  and  air  through  iron  window-sashes. 
What  is  a  government  good  for  that  can  go  into  spasms  if  one 
individual  shall  deprive  another,  without  his  consent,  of  prop- 
erty to  the  value  of  five  dollars,  and  yet  does  nothing,  or 
worse  than  nothing,  for  the  prevention  of  such  outrages  on 
the  weak,  the  innocent,  and  defenceless,  as  we  have  witnessed 
in  this  town  during  the  last  twenty-four  hours.  If  an  individ- 
ual applies  a  torch  to  a  human  dwelling,  made  by  the  carpenter 
and  mason,  of  timber,  boards,  laths,  lime,  &c.,  —  inanimate  ma- 
terials, with  no  soul,  no  spirit,  and  no  gentle  affections,  —  the 
officers  of  the  law  drag  him  before  a  court  of  justice.  He  has 
his  trial,  and  is  locked  up  in  prison ;  and  when  the  bolt  of  his 
cell  goes  home  to  its  fastenings,  there  comes  up  from  the  com- 
munity whose  laws  he  has  outraged  a  universal  "  Amen,"  as  it 
were.  "  His  punishment  is  well  deserved,"  is  the  universal 
declaration.  But  an  individual,  directly  in  the  heart  of  your 
community,  can  put  his  torch  of  liquid  fire  to  your  children, 
your  pride,  your  boast,  and,  according  to  your  own  estimate, 
the  richest  of  your  earthly  possessions,  day  after  day,  until 
they  are  scorched,  seared,  blasted,  ay,  literally  burnt  up, 
before  your  eyes ;  and,  instead  of  sending  the  wretch  to  his 
proper  place,  in  the  state  prison,  you  make  him  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  and  a  postmaster !  In  the  particular  case  of  wrong 
and  outrage  I  have  commented  upon,  the  principal  sufferers 
were  a  widow  and  a  number  of  fatherless  children  ;  but, 
fellow-citizens,  how  soon  it  may  fall  to  my  lot,  or  to  one  of 
you,  to  have  our  hearts  wrung  with  anguish  as  we  survey  the 
ruin  of  some  dear  child,  God  only  knows.  The  curse  is 
abroad,  and  none  of  us  are  secure.  Our  children  are  of  the 
same  flesh  and  blood  as  the  children  of  those  who  have  thus 
been  made  to  suffer  from  this  scourge ;  they  partake  of  the 
same  depraved  nature,  and,  if  exposed  to  the  same  tempta- 
tions, they  may  fall,  as  have  others.  Let  us,  therefore,  not 
only  out  of  regard  to  the  general  welfare  of  society,  but  for 


EVIL    OF    INTEMPERANCE,  '        69 

the  security  of  our  own  families,  labor  to  put  an  end  to  the 
traffic  and  use  of  intoxicating  drinks.  Let  no  one  presume 
to  declare  that  he  has  a  just  and  proper  regard  for  the  children 
God  has  given  him,  if  he  be  unwilling  to  assist  in  removing 
the  snares  which  are  spread,  on  every  hand,  for  their  inex- 
perienced feet. 


INTEMPERANCE  AS  A  VICE  OF  INDIVID- 
UAL  MAN. 


REPORTED   BY   THE  AUTHOR,   FROM  MEMORY. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS:  — 

I  HAVE  frequently,  in  my  public  discourses,  attempted  to 
convince  those  whom  I  have  had  the  honor  to  address  that 
Intemperance  is  the  giant  curse  of  the  civilized  world  ; 
that,  as  a  source  of  mischief  and  misery  to  human  society,  it 
may  claim  a  decided  preeminence  over  any  other  evil  in- 
fluence which  curses  the  world.  On  the  present  occasion,  I 
shall  ask  your  attention,  for  a  brief  period,  while  I  shall  con- 
sider intemperance  as  a  vice  of  individual  man  ;  and  among 
the  long,  black  catalogue  of  vices  to  which  men  are  addicted,  I 
think  it  can  be  made  to  appear  that  intemperance  has  also 
claim  to  the  preeminence.  I  do  not  wish  to  magnify  this  partic- 
ular subject  beyond  the  degree  of  importance  which  properly 
and  justly  belongs  to  it ;  but  the  conviction  has  long  been  set- 
tled in  my  own  mind  that,  with  the  mass,  even  of  those  who 
are,  on  the  whole,  friendly  to  the  temperance  cause,  the 
tremendous  power  of  this  vice  to  enslave  and  ruin  those  who 
yield  themselves  to  its  influence  has  been  sadly  underrated. 

Intemperance  has  found  means  to  adapt  itself,  as  no  other 
vice  has  ever  done,  to  both  sexes,  all  ages,  classes,  and  condi- 
tions of  men.  There  are  none  so  high  that  it  may  not  drag 
.hem  down.  There  are  none  so  low  but  it  will,  with  great 
condescension,  stoop  to  their  humble  condition,  and  contrive 
to  sink  them  lower.  The  educated  and  the  ignorant,  the  rich 


INTEMPERANCE   AS    A   VICE    OF    INDIVIDUAL    MAN.  71 

and  the  poor,  the  civilized  man  and  the  savage,  the  delicate 
female  and  the  brawny  backwoodsman,  the  aged  man  and  the 
beardless  boy,  the  master  and  the  slave,  each  and  all  are 
within  the  reach  of  this  master  vice  of  man.  There  are 
\ices  which  exhibit  themselves  among  the  rich,  who  live  in 
luxury  and  indolence,  which  are  not  found  to  any  considerable 
extent  among  the  hard -laboring  poor.  There  are  others,  found 
among  the  poor  arid  uneducated,  which  would  not  find  tolera- 
tion among  the  wealthy  and  more  refined.  There  are  vices 
which  do  not  begin  to  show  their  power  in  early  youth,  but 
wait  until  the  attainment  of  manhood  for  their  full  develop- 
ment, while  avarice  is  peculiarly  a  vice  of  age  or  advanced 
life.  The  vice  we  are  considering  makes  no  distinction,  but 
has  found  means  to  adapt  itself  to  all  ages,  sexes,  and  condi- 
tions. If  the  wealthy  and  the  fashionable  are  just  now  to  be 
the  subjects  of  power,  it  at  once  adapts  itself  to  their  condi- 
tion. The  old  enemy  slips  into  a  cut  glass  decanter,  or  silver- 
topped  bottles  of  a  fashionable  construction,  in  the  form  of  old 
particular  madeira,  hock,  or  champagne,  and  takes  his  place  on 
a  fashionable  sideboard,  and  where  can  be  found  a  more 
genteel  tind  fashionable  character,  just  now,  than  Mr.  Devil. 
Our  genteel  friends  dally  with  the  tempter.  They  sip  and 
sip  again  and  again,  in  the  most  delicate  manner  imagi- 
nable, and  some,  before  the  hour  of  parting  arrives,  are 
"  as  tipsy  as  a  lord."  O,  yes,  he  has  a  way  to  do  up  the 
fashionables.  Nor  is  he  particularly  awkward  when  we  find 
him  at  the  other  extreme  of  society.  If  it  be  Tom,  Dick, 
and  Harry,  the  ignorant  and  vulgar,  that  just  now  demand  the 
old  enemy's  particular  attentions,  he  will  search  them  out  in 
the  dirty  hovels  which  they  call  home,  or  in  the  still  dirtier 
grog-shop,  and,  taking  the  form  of  New  England  rum,  potato 
whiskey,  strong  beer,  or  hard  cider,  in  an  old  stone  jug,  or  a 
black  junk  bottle,  he  can  make  himself  exceedingly  familiar 
and  cozy  with  his  hard-handed,  and  perhaps  ragged  and 
shoeless,  acquaintances.  Oaths  grow  louder,  obscene  jests 
still  more  obscene ;  vile  songs  are  bellowed  forth  with  increasing 


72  INTEMPERANCE    AS   A   VICE 

energy ;  and  pallets  of  straw,  the  gutter,  and  the  watch-house 
receive  the  company,  sunken  by  strong  drink  to  a  condition, 
considerably  below  the  brute  animals. 

If  the  infant  in  the  cradle  be  just  now  the  particular  subject 
to  be  assaulted,  and  perhaps  ruined,  by  having  an  unnatural 
appetite  early  fixed  in  its  constitution,  this  all-pervading 
and  most  accommodating  curse  slips  into  its  drink  or  suste- 
nance, in  the  shape  of  republican  gin  toddy  or  royal  caudle, 
and,  getting  access  to  the  coats  of  the  stomach  and  the  delicate 
nervous  system,  contracts  an  intimacy,  secures  a  future  ac- 
quaintance with  and  influence  over  the  little  immortal,  and  a 
fire  is  kindled  which  may  burn  to  the  lowest  hell.  Extreme 
old  age  has  no  peculiarities  or  infirmities  to  which  the  vice  of 
intemperance  cannot  adapt  itself.  It  persuades  the  venerable 
man  that  the  true  way  to  "  keep  his  spirits  up  "  is  by  pouring 
spirits  down,  and  down  they  are  poured  ;  and  the  result  often- 
times is,  that  the  gray  head,  which,  "  in  the  way  of  righteous- 
ness," we  are  told,  is  ua  crown  of  glory,"  is  dragged  down  in 
shame  and  sorrow  to  the  grave. 

No  vice,  like  intemperance,  has  ever  been  able  to  seize  on  all 
occasions,  sacred,  social,  and  patriotic,  joyful  and  afflictive,  and 
turn  them  to  its  own  account,  or,  in  other  words,  make  them  the 
instruments  of  strengthening  or  perpetuating  itself.  The  odious 
vices  of  gambling  and  profanity  have  been  able  to  make  a  little 
capital  stock,  to  gain  strength,  impetus,  or  new  victims,  from 
regimental  reviews,  auction  sales,  public  exhibitions  or  execu- 
tions, raisings  of  buildings,  bridges,  and  the  like.  They  could 
not,  however,  make  much  out  of  funeral  occasions,  religious 
anniversaries,  convocations,  &c.  But  intemperance  —  that  most 
subtle  and  efficient  emissary  of  Satan— has,  in  times  past, 
found  means  to  employ  all  occasions  where  men  have  met 
together,  for  securing  new  victims,  or  strengthening  its  chains 
upon  those  already  within  its  grasp.  The  same  hook  which, 
baited  with  new  rum,  caught  the  ragged  loafer  at  a  regimental 
review,  caught,  sometimes,  the  Rev.  D.  D.,  or  the  Right  Rev. 
Bishop,  when,  baited  with  ministerial  toddy,  it  was  dropped 


OF    INDIVIDUAL    MAN.  73 

into  the  religious  convocation.  On  all  occasions,  from  the 
first  moment  of  human  existence  to  the  last,  it  thrust  itself 
before  or  coiled  itself  around  the  generation  which  has  pre- 
ceded us,  to  deceive,  seduce,  and  destroy.  Alcohol  was  the 
first  thing  that  saluted  the  senses  of  the  new-born  infant,  and 
it  bathed  the  temples  of  expiring  age. 

By  its  ability  to  crush  all  the  powers,  faculties,  affections,  in- 
terests, and  hopes  of  individual  man,  intemperance  asserts  its 
supremacy  over  all  or  most  of  the  other  vices  which  degrade 
and  curse  mankind.  Profanity,  if  indulged  in,  wilt  injure  a 
man's  reputation  in  any  well-regulated,  Christian  community. 
It  will  sadly  deprave  his  moral  nature.  But  does  it  disease 
his  body  ?  Certainly  not.  Does  it  waste  his  estate  ?  No. 
Does  it  necessarily  alienate  his  affections  from  his  family,  or 
destroy  his  intellect  ?  No.  It  may  be  long  indulged  in,  and 
yet  not  necessarily  or  materially  affect  either.  Yet  it  is  an 
odious  vice,  offensive  to  God  and  to  all  good  men.  But  look 
at  another  hateful  and  terrible  form  of  vice  —  gambling.  This 
lays  hold  of  a  man  with  a  stronger  grasp  than  profanity.  It 
injures  the  reputation,  depraves  the  heart ;  and  to  these  injuri- 
ous results,  common  both  to  it  and  to  profanity,  gambling  adds 
the  waste  of  property,  as  a  general  rule  ;  and,  if  the  passion 
for  it  gain  considerable  strength,  it  will  alienate  a  man's 
affections  from  wife,  children,  and  home.  Nevertheless,  there 
are  powers  and  interests  of  men  which  gambling  does  not 
immediately  or  ordinarily  reach.  It  does  not  necessarily 
disease  the  body  or  destroy  the  intellect.  Many  profes- 
sional gamblers,  in  our  large  cities,  have  healthy  physical 
frames,  and  intellects  unimpaired  ;  so  that,  although  it  be  a 
terrible  vice,  it  does  not  at  once  attack  all  our  powers  and 
interests.  Intemperance,  however,  leaves  no  power,  faculty, 
interest,  or  proper  affection  uninjured.  That  it  diseases  the 
body,  no  one  will  dispute.  That  it  enfeebles  the  intellect, 
even  some  of  the  most  noble  that  God  has  ever  given  to  man, 
we  have  melancholy  evidence.  That  it  wastes  the  property 
and  hardens  the  heart,  every  one  knows  who  has  paid  atten- 
7 


74  INTEMPERANCE   AS   A   VICE 

tion  to  the  subject ;  and  if  any  individual  before  me  doubts 
whether  it  can  crush  or  alienate  the  social  affections,  let 
him  go  and  ask  the  drunkard's  wife  and  children.  This 
terrible  vice,  as  the  sailor  would  say,  sweeps  the  deck,  and 
does  not  leave  a  spar  standing.  Hence  it  is  an  utter  impos- 
sibility to  restore  completely  to  a  man,  by  the  most  thorough 
reformation,  all  that  he  has  lost  by  the  vice,  if  it  have  been 
long  continued.  John  Hawkins,  whose  name  is  known  through 
every  state  of  this  Union,  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
although  he  has  never  swerved  from  the  temperance  faith 
since  he  embraced  it,  and  although  he  has  a  place  in  the 
affections  of  thousands,  for  his  consistent  course  and  his  zeal- 
ous efforts  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  temperance 
and  the  restoration  of  the  fallen  and  the  wretched,  will  never 
be  able  to  repair  all  the  mischief  which  has  been  done  him  by 
his  former  intemperance.  His  physical  frame,  firmly  knit 
and  excellent  as  it  was  originally,  was  terribly  wrenched  by 
the  old  enemy.  The  same  is  true  of  thousands  of  our 
reformed  brethren.  George  Haydock,  the  ex-wood-sawyer, 
of  Hudson,  as  he  calls  himself,  although  he  retains  more  intel- 
lectual sharpness,  in  spite  of  his  former  intemperance,  than  is 
possessed  by  the  average  of  men  who  never  got  drunk  in 
the  course  of  their  lives,  will,  nevertheless,  find  it  quite  im- 
possible to  rub  out  all  the  scars  he  received  during  his  period 
of  slavery  to  this  terrible  vice.  He  will  never  find  a  per- 
fect substitute  for  the  leg  which,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  was 
lost  in  the  service  of  old  King  Alcohol." 

Another  point,  to  which  I  would  direct  attention,  is  that,  in 
the  brotherhood  of  vices,  intemperance  is  generally  the 
pioneer,  or,  if  not  emphatically  the  pioneer,  it  sets  off  on  its 
errand  of  mischief  with  but  a  small  company.  Very  few 
young  men  become  notorious  for  their  habits  of  gaming  or 
licentiousness  who  abstain  from  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks. 
Of  those  who  had  been  religiously  educated  or  placed  under 
proper  restraints  in  their  youth,  I  never  met  with  a  man  who 
had  become  a  proficient  in  either  of  those  vices,  where  the 


OF    INDIVIDUAL    MAN.  75 

way  for  their  ruinous  march  had  not  been  prepared  by  the 
intoxicating  cup.  The  hell  in  which  those  vices  revel  lies  too 
far  below  the  table  land  of  virtue  and  respectability  to  be 
reached  without  a  ladder  or  staircase.  The  means  of  a  quiet 
and  almost  imperceptible  descent  is  furnished  by  the  intoxicat- 
ing cup.  Sober  young  men,  born,  reared,  and  educated  in 
our  rural  districts,  do  not,  when  business  or  the  pursuit  of 
pleasure  calls  them  to  our  large  cities,  rush  at  once  into  the 
gaming  saloons,  or  the  apartments  of  her  whose  "  house  is  the 
way  to  hell,  going  down  by  the  chambers  of  death."  No,  sir; 
there  must  be  a  previous  preparation  for  such  reckless  folly. 
The  outworks  of  virtue,  morality,  and  common  prudence  must 
be  assaulted  and  carried  by  the  cup  —  to  use  a  military  phrase  — 
and  when  a  clear  breach  is  made  in  the  defences,  then  hell's 
heavy  artillery,  with  all  its  lumbering  battalions,  may  pour  in 
at  their  leisure.  If  I  may  be  permitted  still  further  to  bor- 
row the  phraseology  of  the  camp,  and  another  figure  from 
military  affairs,  I  would  say,  that  intemperance  is  generally 
the  advance  guard  or  "  forlorn  hope  "  of  the  vices.  If  it  be 
successful  in  its  assault  on  the  gates,  the  rest  of  the  infernal 
army  may  enter  at  their  leisure.  If  the  advance  guard  find 
all  the  places  of  ingress  barricaded  with  the  total  abstinence 
pledge,  and  the  well-settled  principles  and  practice  of  tem- 
perance, the  siege  is  generally  raised,  and  Satan's  select  squad- 
rons "  have  leave  to  withdraw." 

The  vice  we  are  especially  considering  accomplishes  with 
apparent  ease,  and  sometimes  with  the  most  frightful  rapidity, 
a  work  of  utter  devastation  upon  the  characters  and  affections 
of  individuals,  which  the  united  influence  of  all  other  known 
vices  for  years,  without  the  aid  of  intemperance,  can  but  barely 
accomplish.  A  single  illustration  may  serve  to  convey  to  you 
precisely  my  meaning,  and,  at  the  same  time,  scatter  any 
doubt  you  may  at  first  entertain  of  the  soundness  of  the  view 
I  am  laboring  to  present.  Some  years  since,  while  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  my  profession  in  the  state  of  Rhode  Island, 
I  was  consulted  in  the  case  of  a  little  girl  of  about  fourteen 


76  INTEMPERANCE   AS   A   VICE 

years  of  age,  if  I  rightly  recollect,  whose  parents  resided 
within  a  .hundred  rods  of  my  office.  The  child  was  suffering 
under  that  terrific  form  of  disease,  consumption ;  and  I  was 
well  aware  that  all  the  service  I  could  render  her  would  be, 
by  a  careful  and  judicious  employment  of  appropriate  means, 
to  relieve  distressing  symptoms  which  might,  from  time  to 
time,  occur  while  organic  disease  of  a  vital  organ,  the  lungs, 
was  daily  moving  forward  to  a  fatal  termination.  Kind 
words,  and  the  manifestation  of  an  affectionate  interest  in  all 
that  might  concern  the  sufferer,  together  with  what  is  under- 
stood by  good  nursing,  is  far  better,  in  such  a  case  as  the 
one  I  have  described,  than  much  medicine,  though  the  employ- 
ment of  medicine  may  be  very  efficient  sometimes  in  relieving 
the  pains  attendant  on  disease  of  a  fatal  character,  if  its 
administration  be  directed  by  sound  physiological  principles 
and  common  sense.  With  such  views  of  my  duties  in  the 
case  before  me,  I  called  frequently  on  the  little  sufferer.  The 
gratitude  she  ever  evinced  for  any  service  rendered  her,  the 
noble  fortitude  with  which  she  bore  her  sufferings,  and  the 
sweet,  angelic  temper  of  mind  she  ever  evinced  under  circum- 
stances which  might  have  been  regarded  as  a  sufficient  apol- 
ogy for  peevishness  and  petulance,  and,  added  to  all  this,  her 
cheerful  acquiescence  in  any  arrangement  which  her  friends 
about  her  judged  for  the  best,  together  completed  a  character 
which  secured  my  admiration  —  ay,  more,  my  love.  Although 
I  had  no  reason  to  expect  any  pecuniary  reward  for  my  services 
in  the  case,  the  dear  child  was  in  no  danger  of  suffering  from 
professional  neglect.  It  is  a  great  privilege  and  honor  to  minis- 
ter to  those  whom  we  have  reason  to  believe  are  soon  to  become 
"  as  the  angels  of  God."  One  morning,  being  under  obliga- 
tions to  leave  the  village  immediately  after  the  hour  of  break- 
fast, to  be  absent  during  the  day,  I  rose  earlier  than  usual, 
that  I  might  have  time  to  visit  my  village  ^ patients  before 
breakfast.  The  residence  of  the  little  girl  whose  situation  I 
Have  described  was  the  first  place  at  which  I  called.  I  found 
her,  on  entering  the  house,  sitting  in  an  arm-chair,  with  a 


OF    INDIVIDUAL    MAN.  77 

blanket  wrapped  about  her  person,  and  shivering  as  with  tho 
cold.  Desirous  of  knowing  for  a  certainty  the  cause  of  this 
agitation,  I  asked,  "  Martha,  what  makes  you  tremble  or  shake 
thus  ?  "  She  answered,  through  chattering  teeth,  and  with  a 
feeble  voice,  "  Sir,  I  am  very  cold."  "  But  why  are  you  not 
in  bed  ?  "  "  I  have  had  one  of  my  distressed  spells,  and 
could  not  lie  in  bed,"  was  the  reply.  "  How  long  have  you 
been  sitting  here,  Martha  ?  "  "  Almost  through  the  night." 
Seeing  that  there  was,  at  the  time,  no  fire  in  the  apartment,  I 
further  inquired,"  Have  you  been  sitting  here  alone,  and  without 
fire  ?  "  She  replied  that  she  had,  and  remarked  that  there 
was  no  wood  in  the  house.  Touched  to  the  soul  by  the  mel- 
ancholy condition  of  the  little  sufferer,  and  as  I  could  hear  no 
one  moving  in  adjoining  apartments,  I  inquired  for  her  father, 
and  she  informed  me  he  was  in  bed.  Once  more  I  inquired, 
"  Where  is  your  mother  1 "  "  She  is  in  bed  too"  was  the 
answer  of  the  little  uncomplaining  angel.  While  I  shall  live, 
may  a  merciful  God  spare  me  from  another  such  trial  of  my 
feelings.  Is  there  another  influence  under  heaven,  with  which 
any  one  before  me  has  ever  become  acquainted,  strong  enough 
to  drag  a  mother  from  the  side  of  a  dear,  sick,  suffering  child, 
and  lead  her,  while  she  can  stand  up  or  move,  to  abandon  it  to 
the  united  power  of  disease,  biting  cold,  and  utter  loneliness, 
through  the  long,  tedious  hours  of  such  a  night,  except  the 
accursed  influence  of  the  intoxicating  cup  ?  I  have  lived  more 
than  forty  years,  and  been  a  pretty  careful  observer  of  what  is 
passing  in  the  world  around  me,  and  I  have  never  witnessed  the 
operation  of  any  other  power  than  that  of  alcoholic  drinks 
which  was  capable  of  conquering  a  mothers  love.  That  old 
couplet,  which,  with  some  injustice  to  my  own  sex,  as  I  think, 
contrasted  the  strength  and  endurance  of  a  mother's  and  a 
father's  love,  certainly  fails  to  convey  the  truth  relative  to  the 
character  of  drunken  mothers.  It  may  not  be  said  of  drunken 
mothers,  in  the  sense  intended  in  the  old  couplet,  that 

"  A  mother  '8  a  mother  all  the  days  of  her  life." 
7* 


78  INTEMPERANCE   AS   A   VICE 

One  who  has  become  the  slave  of  this  dreadful  vice  is  a  mother 
until  she  gets  hold  of  the  bottle.  The  father  of  that  poor 
little  girl  had,  the  evening  before  my  visit  to  her,  obtained  a 
quart  of  rum  from  a  grocery  kept  in  the  village  by  a  '•''justice 
of  the  peace;"  and  the  result  I  have  already  stated.  He 
added,  perhaps,  a  sixpence  to  his  ill-gotten  gains,  and  that  poor, 
sick,  and  suffering  child  sat  there  alone,  and  shaking  with  the 
cold,  while  hour  after  hour  of  that  gloomy  night  rolled  heavily 
and  slowly  away.  What  burning  thoughts  must  have  passed 
through  the  brain,  and  what  agonizing  feelings  awakened  in 
the  breast  of  that  child,  as  she  sat  there  alone,  without  fire,  or 
the  presence  of  one  solitary  friend,  during  that  bitter  night ! 
Even  with  the  best  of  care,  with  kind  friends  continually  by 
our  side  to  minister  to  our  wants,  to  raise  up  the  drooping 
head,  to  put  the  cordial  draught  to  the  parched  and  fevered 
lip,  and  whisper  in  our  ear  words  of  sympathy  and  comfort, 
— -  O,  with  all  these,  is  there  not  enough  of  trial  for  poor 
human  nature  through  a  long  and  wasting  disease  ?  When 
the  limbs  fail  to  perform  their  office,  and  we  feebly  stretch 
forth  our  emaciated  hands  to  those  around  us  for  support,  and 
when  we  know  that  the  blessed  sun  shall  but  for  a  few  mornings 
more  riseybr  MS,  and  that  we  shall  no  more  walk  abroad  over 
the  pleasant  fields,  brushing,  with  our  feet,  from  the  bending 
grass  tops  the  diamonds  which  night  had  hung  upon  them, 
and  when  memory  is  busied  in  bringing  before  the  mind  all 
that  we  have  loved  on  earth,  and  are  about  to  lose  forever^ 
—  then,  even  if  sustained  by  a  hope  of  happiness  beyond  the 
grave,  we  need  also  the  kind  offices  and  kind  words  of  our 
friends. 

"  For  who,  to  dumb  forgetfulness  a  prey, 

This  pleasing,  anxious  being  e'er  resigned, 
Left  the  warm  precincts  of  the  cheerful  day, 

Nor  cast  one  longing,  lingering  look  behind  ? " 

God  have  mercy  on  those  who,  at  such  a  time,  and  under  such 
circumstances,  cast  into  the  cup  of  the  sick  and  afflicted  one 
unnecessary  element  of  bitterness.  Those  who  do  thus,  greatly 


OF    INDIVIDUAL    MAN.  79 

need  mercy,  for  they  have  much  to  be  forgiven.     Such,  how 
ever,  is  the  almost  daily  business  of  those  who  fill  the  intoxicat- 
ing cup  for  the  victims  of  this  terrible  vice,  while,  often,  their 
nearest  and  dearest  relatives  are  sick  and  suffering  at  home. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  only  add,  that  the  vice  of  intemperance 
demands  our  especial  attention  on  account  of  the  vast  multi- 
tude of  its  victims.  For  one  individual  who  is  thoroughly 
corrupted  through  the  influence  mainly  of  any  other  vice, 
there  are  at  least  ten  who  are  rendered  by  this  vice  a  curse  1o 
their  families  and  relatives,  and  a  pest  and  burden  to  society. 


PROSPECTIVE  RESULTS  OF  THE  TRAFFIC  IN 
INTOXICATING  DRINKS. 


REPORTED   PROM   MEMORY,   BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS  .  — 

WITHOUT  any  special  inspiration  from  above,  or  the  gift  of 
prophecy,  men  may  often,  from  a  careful  consideration  of  the 
past  and  the  present,  reason  to  what  lies  in  the  future.  We 
may  not  attain  to  that  precise  and  particular  knowledge  of  the 
future  which  observation  and  history  furnish  of  the  present  and 
the  past,  but  we  can  estimate  general  results  with  sufficient 
accuracy  to  guide  us  in  the  practical  duties  and  concerns  of 
life.  I  propose,  in  the  present  discourse,  with  such  aid  as  we 
may  derive  from  history,  and  our  own  observation  of  what 
has  been  passing  in  the  world  around  us,  to  look  forward  to 
the  inevitable  results  of  the  traffic  in  strong  drink,  if  it  shall 
be  continued  in  this  community.  Such  an  exercise  may  aid 
us  in  settling  the  question  of  individual  duty  in  reference  to  an 
important  subject,  which,  at  the  present  moment,  is  exciting 
much  discussion  in  almost  every  part  of  our  country.  That 
discussion  is  not  confined  to  private  circles.  It  has  found  its 
way  to  the  pulpits  of  the  land,  to  the  lyceums  and  legislative 
halls,  and  more  than  once  has  engaged  the  attention  of  our 
highest  judicial  tribunals.  Let  us,  therefore,  with  what  ability 
and  calmness  we  may  bring  to  the  task,  pull  aside  the  veil 
which  separates  us  from  the  future,  and  let  the  light  of  history 
and  reason  stream  in,  and  show  us  the  inevitable  consequences 
of  continuing,  in  this  community,  the  traffic  in  the  means  of 
intoxication. 


RESULTS  OF  THE  RUM  TRAFFIC.  81 

In  every  part  of  the  world,  where  the  manufacture  and 
traffic  of  intoxicating  compounds  have  been  tolerated,  a  con- 
siderable proportion  of  its  inhabitants  have  been  hurried,  by 
them,  to  untimely  and  dishonorable  graves.  There  have  been 
no  exceptions  in  favor  of  communities  where  the  arts  of  civ- 
ilized life,  education,  refinement,  and  Christianity  have  done 
most  for  the  elevation  of  our  race.  We  may  then,  from  this 
uniformity  of  result,  set  it  down  as  a  fixed  fact,  that  if  the 
traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  be  continued,  it  will  doom  to 
early  and  dishonorable  graves  a  certain  and  no  inconsiderable 
number  of  our  fellow-citizens.  Now,  if  no  other  injury  to 
society  were  to  be  reasonably  anticipated  from  the  continuance 
of  that  traffic,  and  it  could  be  made  to  appear  that  the  traffic 
could  safely  be  dispensed  with,  our  duty  —  the  duty  of  all 
men  —  would  be  plain  in  the  premises.  Why  should  we  tol- 
erate the  certain  and  unnecessary  destruction  of  our  fellow- 
men  ?  Is  it  a  matter  of  no  moment  that  the  period  of  human 
life  should  be  wantonly  abbreviated  ?  Why  should  not  a  man 
be  hanged  as  soon  for  producing  death  by  alcohol  as  by 
arsenic  ?  These  are  questions  for  those  who  sustain  the  rum 
traffic  to  answer.  There  are,  doubtless,  in  this  community,  a 
number  of  men  who  have  contracted  habits  of  intemperance, 
and  an  artificial  appetite,  which  seems  to  have  gotten  the 
mastery  of  their  wills.  Efforts  have  been  made  for  their 
rescue.  Good  counsel  has  been  given  them.  Friends  have 
gathered  around,  and  earnestly  and  kindly  exhorted  them  to 
save  themselves  from  ruin.  Perhaps  they  have  been  persuaded 
to  attend  meetings  of  the  friends  of  temperance,  and  the  hearts 
of  their  relatives  and  friends  have  been  gladdened  by  seeing 
their  names  appended  to  a  pledge  of  abstinence.  But  with 
some  it  has  availed  nought.  They  have  broken  such  pledges 
repeatedly,  and  returned  to  their  cups.  Where  now  is  ycur 
ground  of  hope  for  such  ?  You  have  but  one.  Place  the  cup 
of  poison  beyond  their  reach,  or  they  die.  Let  this  inevitable 
conclusion  dwell  in  the  mind  of  evtry  one  whom  I  now 
address.  Whatever  language  the  lips  of  those  wretched 


82  TKOSPECTIVE  RESULTS  OF  THE 

victims  of  intemperance  may  utter,  the  language  of  their  con- 
dition is,  "  Save  me,  or  I  perish."  The  hearts  of  thousands 
who  have  come  to  the  light  on  this  subject  respond  to  the 
call,  and  they  stretch  forth  their  hands,  and,  with  fraternal  and 
proper  feelings,  lift  up  their  fallen  brethren,  and  place  them  on 
their  feet.  But  another  hand  seizes  them,  and  drags  them  back 
into  the  pit  from  which  they  had  escaped  for  a  time ;  and  that 
hand  is  the  hand  of  the  dealer  in  intoxicating  drinks.  While 
we  see  the  benevolent  and  good  thus  putting  forth  efforts  to  save 
from  complete  ruin,  body  and  soul,  some  of  their  unfortunate 
fellow-men,  O,  it  is  melancholy  to  see  others  take  upon  them- 
selves the  awful  responsibility  of  frustrating  their  designs,  and 
preventing  the  accomplishment  of  the  good  they  aim  at.  If 
there  be  any  truth  in  that  old  maxim  that  actions  speak  some- 
times even  louder  than  words,  then  the  language  of  those  who 
are  determined  to  perpetuate  in  community  the  traffic  in  strong 
drink  is  by  no  means  equivocal.  We  must  read  it  thus :  "  Gen- 
tlemen, temperance  men,  and  you  ladies  who  are  engaged  in 
this  temperance  movement,  put  forth  your  united  strength  and 
influence,  get  up  meetings  of  the  citizens,  organize  societies, 
adopt  and  circulate  your  pledges,  expend  your  time,  and 
employ  your  funds  in  efforts  to  save  the  drunkards  of  this 
community  from  the  fate  that  threatens  them  ;  and  when  you 
have  done  all,  you  shall  fail  in  the  accomplishment  of  your 
object.  We  stand  here  to  frustrate  your  designs.  The  drunk- 
ards of  this  community  seem  desirous  of  the  privilege  of 
destroying  themselves,  and  we  are  determined  they  shall  enjoy 
it.  You  throw  water  on  the  fire  that  threatens  to  consume 
them,  and  we  will  rekindle  it.  You  pull  them  out  of  the  cur- 
rent which  is  sweeping  them  toward  the  cataract  below,  and 
we  will  push  them  from  the  bank  as  soon  as  their  feet  rest 
upon  it."  Such  is  the  language  of  their  acts,  if  not  of  their 
lips.  If  they  shall  deny  that  they  will  such  a  result,  then  I 
reply,  that  whoever  wills  the  continued  operation  of  a  cause 
which  he  knows,  and  all  past  experience  shows,  to  be  attended 
with  one  uniform  result,  wills  that  result,  whatever  he  may 


TRAFFIC    IN    INTOXICATING   DRINKS.  83 

say  to  the  contrary.  The  sane  man,  who  puts  a  lighted  torch 
to  the  hay-mow  in  my  barn,  wills  to  burn  my  barn  ;  and  no 
sophistry,  however  ingenious,  can,  as  it  appears  to  me,  mislead 
an  honest  mind  in  relation  to  the  matter.  He  who  wills  the 
continued  existence  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,  wills 
the  production  of  its  inevitable  results  ;  and  those  are  poverty, 
disease,  and  death,  to  some  of  his  fellow-men. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  never  studied  the  logic  of  the  schools, 
but  the  argument  I  have  just  employed  seems  to  me  consistent 
with  the  logic  of  common  sense.  If  a  single  citizen  of  this 
community  were  arraigned,  and  put  on  his  trial,  for  a  capital 
offence,  the  penalty  of  which  is  death,  and  twelve  men  were 
selected  from  these  before  me  to  sit  as  jurors  in  the  case,  with 
what  intense  interest  they  would  listen  to  every  particle  of 
evidence  tending  to  prove  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  pris- 
oner !  Why  is  this  ?  A  human  life  is  at  stake  ;  and  human 
life  is  too  sacred  to  be  trifled  with.  In  such  a  case  as  the  one 
I  have  supposed,  when  the  evidence  and  the  pleadings  in  the 
case  are  closed,  and  the  judge  has  concluded  his  charge  to  the 
jury,  what  intense  anxiety  is  depicted  in  every  countenance 
during  the  period  of  their  consultation  on  the  subject !  And, 
when  the  foreman  of  the  jury  rises  to  declare  the  guilt  or 
innocence  of  the  accused,  the  most  profound  silence  reigns  in 
the  apartment,  and  each  individual  seems  intent  on  catching 
the  first  syllable  which  can  make  him  acquainted  with  the  fate 
of  the,  prisoner.  So  sacred  do  we  regard  human  life.  Now, 
sir,  do  you,  and  do  my  brethren  here  assembled,  realize  that, 
while  settling  the  question  whether  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
poisons  shall  be  continued  in  this  community,  you  are  settling 
the  question  of  life  or  death  for  a  certain  number  of  your 
fellow-citizens  ?  Let  that  traffic  be  discontinued,  and  they  live. 
Let  it  be  continued,  and  they  will  go  down  to  untimely  graves, 
"  a  bloated  mass  of  rank,  unwieldy  woe." 

Sir,  while  we  are  endeavoring  to  obtain  as  correct  a  view  as 
may  be  possible  of  the  prospective  results  of  this  wicked 
system,  we  must  not  confine  our  thoughts  to  the  few  in  this 


84  PROSPECTIVE  RESULTS  OF  THE 

particular  community  whose  fate  the  continuance  of  this  traffic 
will  settle.  Every  community,  town,  or  village  of  the  land 
can  number  its  quota,  and  the  aggregate  swells  to  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands.  Some  years  since,  after  circumstances 
which  1  need  not  name  had  compelled  me  to  reflect  on  the 
character  and  influence  of  that  horrid  system,  my  thoughts 
and  feelings  found  expression  in  the  following  lines  :  — 

'Tis  sad  to  see  the  drunkard's  wretched  home, 
Despoiled  by  poverty,  and  wrapped  in  gloom  ; 
To  see  the  shattered  roof,  the  crumbling  wall, 
The  wretched  inmates,  and  to  hear  the  call 
Of  famished  children  for  their  ruined  sire, 
Blasted  and  scorched  by  rum's  consuming  fire. 
But  when,  in  sad  array,  before  our  eyes 
The  thirty  thousand  annual  victims  rise, 
The  warm  blood  chills  —  we  almost  curse  the  clan 
Who  wage  a  war  alike  with  God  and  man  ; 
Trample  on  justice,  mock  at  misery's  tale 
And  mercy's  tears,  till  even  fiends  grow  pale ; 
Afflict  the  wretched  poor,  insult  the  good, 
And  fatten  on  the  price  of  human  blood. 

But,  Mr.  President,  the  certain  destruction  of  the  lives  of  a 
vast  multitude  who  are  now  intemperate,  is  not,  by  any  means, 
all  we  may  anticipate  of  evil  from  the  continuance  of  this 
traffic.  As  the  ranks  of  reeling,  bloated  men  are  thinned  by 
death,  a  further  draught  will  be  made  on  community  to  fill 
their  places  ;  and  O,  sir,  let  us  consider  for  a  moment  from 
what  source  this  accursed  agency  is  to  draw  its  supply  of 
future  victims.  Drunkards  cannot  be  made  from  wood,  stone, 
or  other  inanimate  matter.  No,  sir;  the  raw  material  which  is 
to  be  worked  up  by  this  terrible  system  into  a  future  army  of 
drunkards,  must  be  sought  among  the  children  and  youth 
of  the  country.  Some  of  the  little  ones  who  now  play  their 
childish  gambols  in  your  streets,  and  who,  with  their  artless 
prattle,  as  they  climb  on  the  laps  of  parents, 

"  Do  all  their  weary,  carking  cares  beguile, 
And  make  them  quite  forget  their  labor  and  their  toil," 


TRAFFIC    IN    INTOXICATING   DRINKS.  85 

are  to  be  drawn  into  this  whirlpool  of  misery  and  sin,  if  it 
be  continued  among  us,  and  made  as  wretched  and  as  vile 
as  the  drunkards  who  now  stagger  along  our  streets.  The 
rum  dealers  among  us,  in  this  year  of  1849,  with  all  the  light 
which  now  streams  full  on  this  infamous  system,  ask  it  as  a 
privilege,  —  ay,  more,  they  claim  it  as  a  right, — 

To  fill  the  poisonous  cup  for  thoughtless  youth, 

Lure  them  from  home,  and  from  the  paths  of  truth, 

Into  their  soul-polluting  sinks  of  sin  ; 

Prepare  them  for  the  pit,  and  thrust  them  in. 

These  are  the  rights  they  claim  —  they  love  them  well  — 

Hired  engineers  upon  the  road  to  Hell. 

Sir,  while  we  allow  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  to  be 
continued  among  us,  we  are  permitting  a  lottery  to  be  drawn 
in  which  disease  and  wretchedness,  disgrace  and  death,  are 
the  only  prizes ;  and  that  too  with  our  own  children's  names  in 
the  wheel  of  chance,  some  of  whose  names  must  be  drawn 
against  such  prizes  as  I  have  named.  I  have  sometimes 
wished  that  I  possessed  the  power  to  look  far  enough  into 
futurity  to  select  those  who  are  to  become  the  future  victims 
of  intemperance  in  those  communities  where  the  traffic  shall 
be  tolerated.  If  I  were  possessed  of  such  knowledge,  and 
were  engaged  in  the  performance  of  that  melancholy  duty,  1 
am  quite  sure  I  should  visit  some  families  where  I  should  be 
not  only  an  unwelcome  but  a  most  unexpected  visitor.  O,  sir, 
if,  through  a  mistaken  policy,  or  the  neglect  of  duty,  the 
traffic  in  strong  drink  is  to  be  continued  in  this  town,  I  would 
to  God  that  we  could  gather  here  in  one  group  the  little  bright- 
eyed  and  fair-haired  boys  and  girls  who  are  to  become  its 
victims.  I  would  have  them  arranged  in  the  broad  aisle 
before  me,  and  then,  pointing  to  the  little  band  of  doomed 
ones,  1  would  ask  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  this  town,  "  Are 
you  ready  for  the  sacrifice  ?  Shall  these  little  ones  be  sub- 
jected to  all  the  miseries  of  the  drunkard's  life,  and  all  the 
horrors  and  hopelessness  of  the  drunkard's  death,  that  two  or 
three  of  your  citizens  may  live  on  the  blood-stained  profits 
S 


00  PROSPECTIVE  RESULTS  OF  THE 

of  this  infamous  business  ?  Ay,  and  I  would  ask  the  retailers 
of  strong  drinks  in  this  community,  "  Are  you  ready  for  the 
sacrifice  ?  Are  you  willing  to  contribute  your  individual  and 
respective  shares  of  influence  to  poison,  degrade,  and  utterly 
ruin  these  the  children  of  your  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens, 
body  and  soul,  for  the  paltry  consideration  of  so  many  dollars 
and  so  many  cents  ?  "  If  you  have  resolved  on  a  course  so 
ruinous,  so  unjust,  so  inhuman,  and  there  shall  not  be  found  in 
this  community  energy  enough  to  restrain  you  in  your 
infamous  career,  I  would  say  to  you, 

Go  on  — be  rich,  even  to  your  heart's  desire, 
And  grasp  with  greedy  hand  each  worldly  good  ; 
But  ktww,  thy  God  will  at  thy  hands  require 

Thy  brother's  blood. 

But,  sir,  this  traffic,  if  it  be  continued,  will  turn  off,  from 
time  to  time,  scores,  hundreds,  ay,  and  if  we  include  in  our 
estimate  the  whole  country,  thousands  of  reckless  and  lawless 
men,  to  prey  on  the  interests  of  honest  citizens,  and  the  fruits 
of  honest  industry,  and  to  be  provided  with  homes,  at  last,  in 
our  poor-houses,  prisons,  and  hospitals,  and  there  supported  at 
the  public  expense.  The  traffic  in  strong  drink  never  has  and 
never  can  support  itself  and  pay  for  repairing  the  mischief  it 
causes  even  to  the  pecuniary  interests  of  men.  If  it  were  pos- 
sible to  draw  a  line  with  perfect  accuracy  between  the  damage 
done  to  society  by  this  traffic  and  that  inflicted  by  other  causes 
of  mischief,  and  we  were  then  to  charge  to  the  account  of 
those  engaged,  wholesale  and  retail,  in  the  traffic  in  strong 
drinks  exactly  their  proportion  of  the  bill,  and  compel  the  pay- 
ment, it  would  reduce  the  whole  class  to  hopeless  bankruptcy. 
They  know  this  perfectly  well,  but  they  know  also  that  their 
very  good-natured  fellow-citizens  have,  in  time  past,  consented 
to  act  the  part  of  pack-horses  for  them,  and  to  bear  off  on 
their  well-worn  shoulders  any  burdens  rum-sellers  have  found 
it  convenient  to  put  upon  them.  They  have  unbounded  con- 
fidence in  our  meekness  and  forbearance,  and  suppose  that 
ihe  future  shall  be  as  the  past,  in  the  matter  we  are  considering. 


TRAFFIC    IN    INTOXICATING    DRINKS.  87 

Time  will,  however,  convince  them  of  their  mistake,  or  you 
may  set  me  down  no  prophet. 

Three  fourths  of  the  pauperism,  and  four  fifths  of  the  crime, 
which  burden  and  afflict  society,  are  the  result  of  the  traffic  and 
use  of  strong  drink.  Whenever  a  thorough  investigation  of 
the  subject  has  been  made,  the  result  has  shown  these  propor- 
tions. I  have  not  known  the  correctness  of  that  estimate 
called  in  question,  either  through  the  press  or  otherwise,  during 
the  last  three  years.  No  man  of  any  pretensions  -to  knowl- 
edge or  character  will  venture  now  to  call  in  question  the 
accuracy  of  the  statistics  of  intemperance,  as  they  have  been 
a  thousand  times  given  to  the  public  within  the  last  fifteen 
years;  and  with  such  facts  before  them,  the  men  of  New 
England  must  possess  asinine  qualities  to  a  greater  degree 
than  I  suppose,  if  they  can  long  submit  to  such  injustice.  I  do 
not  propose  here  and  now  to  examine  in  detail  the  operation 
of  the  system  I  am  condemning  on  the  various  branches  of 
business  carried  on  in  the  community.  At  another  time,  if  I 
shall  again  have  the  opportunity  of  addressing  you,  I  may 
direct  your  attention  more  particularly  to  the  warfare  con- 
stantly waged  by  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors  upon  all 
useful  trades  and  occupations.  It  is  sufficient  for  my  present 
purpose  that  I  call  your  attention  to  the  general  fact  that  all 
the  industrial  affairs  of  human  society  are  continually  embar- 
rassed by  that  traffic,  and  that,  from  the  nature  of  things,  it 
ever  must  be  so. 

The  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks,  if  continued,  will  put  in 
jeopardy  the  lives  of  sober  citizens,  even  those  who  hate  and 
abhor  the  system,  and  who  have  long  since  resolved  they  will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  except,  when  opportunity  offers,  to 
strike  a  blow  at  its  existence.  So  long  as  men  in  any  com- 
munity are  made  reckless  by  strong  drink,  and  thus  disqualified 
for  the  proper  performance  of  their  duties,  the  most  distress- 
ing casualties  will  frequently  occur.  Thousands  of  lives  are 
lost  annually  in  this  country  by  the  recklessness  of  men  who 
have  charge  of  our  public  conveyances.  In  these  days,  when 


PROSPECTIVE    RESULTS    OF    THE 

the  tremendous  agent,  steam,  is  so  extensively  employed  as  a 
locomotive  power,  it  is  especially  necessary  that  all  persons 
whose  business  it  may  be  to  guide  or  control  the  movements 
of  steamboats,  railroad  trains,  stage-coaches,  omnibuses,  and 
the  like,  should  be  possessed  of  all  the  prudence  and  caution 
native  to  their  constitutions,  or  excited  by  a  sense  of  their 
responsibilities  and  the  vast  interest  intrusted  to  their  care. 
Now,  sir,  this  traffic,  if  continued,  will  constantly  present  to 
the  eye  and  the  lips  of  those  thus  employed  a  temptation 
which  has  proved  too  strong  for  thousands,  and,  through  the 
recklessness  of  some  of  that  class  of  persons,  some  even  of 
us  here  assembled  may  be  torn  to  shreds  by  the  wheels  of  a 
railroad  car,  or  crushed  to  a  shapeless  mass  in  the  crash  of 
a  stage  or  omnibus,  driven  recklessly  upon  a  railroad  track  as 
the  train  is  approaching  a  crossing ;  or  we  may  be  hurried 
into  eternity  by  the  unskilful  management  of  a  steamboat  pilot, 
who  has  been  rendered  reckless  or  stupid  by  alcoholic  influ- 
ence. 

The  mass  of  our  fellow-citizens  do  not  seem  so  fully- 
impressed  as  they  should  be  with  the  utter  unfitness  of  any 
individual  who  stimulates  himself  with  alcoholic  liquors  to 
control  the  movements  of  a  public  conveyance,  or  to  execute 
the  orders  of  an  individual  on  whom  such  responsibility  is  laid. 
The  imminent  danger  there  is  in  committing  property  or  life  to 
the  care  of  a  man  who  has  contracted  and  who  indulges  an 
appetite  for  intoxicating  stimulants,  will  more  fully  appear  if 
we  consider  for  a  moment  the  peculiar  influence  exerted  by 
such  stimulants  to  destroy  the  controlling  or  regulating  powers 
of  men.  There  is  a  very  marked  distinction  between  the 
impelling  and  regulating  forces  of  human  beings.  Each 
individual  of  our  race  is,  in  an  important  respect,  like  a  steam- 
boat. A  steamboat  has  impelling  forces  on  board,  and  she 
lias  also  regulating  forces  ;  and  on  the  proper  balance  of  these, 
and  their  harmonious  action,  the  perfection  of  her  movements 
will  depend.  True,  there  are  impelling  forces  without,  or 
independent  of  the  boat,  which  may  accelerate  or  retard  her 


TRAFFIC    IN    INTOXICATING    DRINKS.  89 

movements,  and  regulating  force  may  le  applied  from  without 
which  may  change  her  direction  to  a  certain  extent ;  but,  with 
the  steamboat,  as  with  men,  the  principal  forces  which  will 
give  and  regulate  its  movements  must  be  sought  for  on  board. 
Her  impelling  force  is  the  steam  in  her  boilers,  the  escape  of 
which,  being  regulated  and  brought  to  bear  on  her  machinery, 
give  the  boat  motion,  while  the  helm  directs  her  course.  Now, 
suppose,  sir,  you  were  to  go  on  board  a  steam  vessel,  and,  by 
throwing  beneath  her  boilers  an  unusual  amount  of  combusti- 
ble materials,  you  were  to  double  her  usual  impelling  force  ; 
and  suppose,  when  you  had  done  this,  you  were  to  cut  away 
one  half  the  helm  ;  —  shall  we  have  reason  to  be  surprised  now, 
if,  in  her  future  movements,  she  shall  run  on  shore,  or  on  the 
breakers,  or  shall,  in  her  violent  and  irregular  career,  dash 
against  any  other  craft  which  may  have  the  misfortune  to  be 
moving  in  her  vicinity  ?  Certainly  not.  She  moves  with 
increased  velocity,  but  her  motions  are  ill  regulated.  Now, 
sir,  I  have  said  that  man  is,  in  one  important  point  of  view, 
like  a  steamboat.  As  in  the  case  of  the  boat,  there  are  in- 
fluences operating  around  him  and  without  him  which  may 
increase  or  diminish,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  momentum  where- 
with he  moves  forward  in  life ;  and  there  are  influences  op- 
erating around  him,  and  independent  of  him,  which  may,  to  a 
certain  extent,  give  direction  to  his  movements.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  true  of  the  man,  as  of  the  steamboat,  that  the  principal 
forces  that  impel  him  to  action,  and  regulate  his  movements^ 
so  far  as  they  may  be  regulated,  must  be  looked  for  "  on 
board,"  or  within  the  man. 

But,  sir,  what  are  the  impelling  and  regulating  forces  of 
human  beings  ?  What  forces  move  and  regulate  the  move- 
ments of  the  living  mass  of  humanity  around  us  ?  How  the 
learned  in  mental  and  moral  philosophy  might  answer  that 
question  I  know  not,  for  I  never  consulted  books  which  treat 
professedly  on  that  subject.  \  will,  however,  give  you  the 
answer  which  my  professional  studies  and  the  observations  of 
my  life  dictate.  The  impelling  forces  are  the  passions 
8* 


90  PROSPECTIVE  RESULTS  OF  THE 

appetites  common  to  us  all,  and  those  restless  desires  for  good, 
for  enjoyment,  for  happiness,  or  however  we  may  term  it, 
which  are  continually  springing  up  in  the  human  breast,  and 
moving  us  forward,  forward,  forever  forward  in  the  pursuit  of 
the  object  desired.  That  object  may  be  the  attainment  of 
knowledge,  wealth,  fame,  or  power.  It  may  seem  just  now 
before  us,  or  it  may  beckon  us  from  a  distant  region.  It  may 
have  reference  to  this  life,  or  another  beyond  the  grave.  Be 
the  object  desired  and  the  period  of  anticipated  possession 
what  they  may,  the  effect  is  the  same  —  on,  on,  and  still  on,  in 
the  pursuit  of  some  real  or  promised  good,  until  we  drop  into 
our  graves.  Now,  it  must  be  evident  to  any  mind  of  ordinary 
capacity,  that,  excited  thus  to  activity,  and  driven  forward  in 
every  conceivable  direction  to  attain  to  the  gratification  of  our 
appetites,  passions,  and  desires,  we  should,  at  every  step  of 
our  progress,  come  into  collision  with  our  fellow-men  around 
us,  and  a  horrible  crash  of  conflicting  elements  would  be  the 
result,  if  we  had  not,  like  the  steamboat,  regulating  forces  on 
board.  Terrible  collisions  do  occur,  ar£  continually  occur- 
ring, around  us,  in  consequence  of  the  want  of  a  sufficient 
regulating  force  in  the  individuals  who  compose  the  moving 
mass. 

What,  sir,  are  those  regulating  or  governing  forces  on 
which  we  must  mainly  rety  to  control  men  in  their  various 
movements  and  pursuits  ?  Reason  and  conscience.  A  pas- 
sion or  appetite,  natural  or  artificial,  we  will  suppose,  clamors 
for  indulgence,  and  asks  the  assistance  of  the  mind  and  the 
muscles  to  secure  for  it  the  means  of  gratification.  But  what 
says  the  government  or  regulating  powers  of  that  man  to  the 
proposed  movement  ?  His  reason  decides,  perhaps,  that  it  is 
inexpedient ;  that  it  will  involve  him  in  trouble ;  that  the 
promised  enjoyment  will  be  followed,  in  some  way,  with  an 
amount  of  suffering  which  would  more  than  outweigh  it  in  the 
scale  of  happiness.  The  voice  of  conscience  decides  that  any 
effort  to  secure  the  gratification  proposed  will  be  wrong,  unjust, 
sinful,  and  the  will  enforces  the  decision  of  reason  and  con 


TRAFFIC    IN    INTOXICATING    DRINKS.  91 

science,  and  positively  forbids  any  movement  in  that  direction. 
That  man  is  a  law  to  himself;  he  needs  no  force  from  without 
to  prevent  him  from  trampling  on  the  rights  of  those  about 
him.  He  has  an  excellent  form  of  government,  consisting  of 
three  departments  ;  a  house  of  representatives,  a  senate,  and 
an  executive  —  reason,  conscience,  and  will.  If  the  governing 
power  of  individuals  were  perfect,  we  should  want  no  other 
form  of  government  on  earth.  Legislatures,  governors,  courts, 
and  prisons  would  be  superfluous. 

Now,  sir,  we  see  that  the  use  of  alcohol  and  other  diffusible 
stimulants  employed  by  our  fellow-men  produce  the  most 
terrible  results  imaginable.  They  occasion  frightful  col- 
lisions on  every  hand.  Domestic  brawls,  street  fights,  mobs, 
and  murders  are  the  frequent  and  legitimate  results  of  the  use 
of  intoxicating  drinks  and  drugs.  The  reason  of  this  will  dis- 
tinctly appear  if  we  do  but  observe  that  they  increase  the 
impelling  forces  of  individual  men,  while  they  enfeeble  or 
totally  destroy  the  regulating  forces.  Many  a  man  has  been 
prompted  by  a  spirit  of  revenge  to  take  the  life  of  a  fellow- 
being  ;  but  he  could  not,  for  a  time,  bring  his  muscles  to  the 
work.  Why  ?  The  regulating  powers  were  too  strong  for 
his  wicked  passions  and  desires.  A  law  was  enacted  in  that 
individual  mind  that  the  murder  should  not  be  committed. 
That  law  passed  both  houses,  reason  and  conscience,  by  a  clear 
and  overwhelming  vote,  and  the  executive,  the  will,  being  in 
health,  and  qualified  to  act,  gives  its  sanction  to  the  law,  and 
enforces  it  promptly,  forbidding  the  muscles  to  act,  to  lift  the 
murderous  steel,  or  move  one  step  at  the  bidding  of  revenge. 
Notwithstanding  the  prompt  action  of  the  self-governing  powers 
in  the  case  I  have  supposed,  it  may  be  that  the  passion  of 
revenge  has  subsequently  been  gratified,  and  the  murder  com- 
mitted. But  how  ?  The  individual  knew  from  observation, 
and  perhaps  previous  experience,  that  intoxicating  drinks 
would  cripple  or  enfeeble  the  governing  powers,  which  had 
restrained  him,  and  he  therefore  swallowed  a  portion  of  Satan's 
patent  conscience-killer,  and,  an  hour  afterwards,  the  hellish 


92  PROSPECTIVE  RESULTS  OF  THE 

passion  of  revenge  was  gratified,  while  the  muscles,  no  longer 
held  back  by  the  voice  of  reason  and  conscience,  or  the  man- 
date of  the  will,  drove  the  steel  to  the  heart  of  the  victim. 

Mr.  President,  the  case  I  have  supposed  is  by  no  means  a 
rare  one.  Daily  do  numbers  of  our  fellow-men  around  us 
avail  themselves  of  the  aid  of  intoxicating  drinks  to  enable 
them  to  do  the  bidding  of  their  passions  or  vicious  propensities, 
freed  from  the  restraint  which  reason  and  conscience  would 
otherwise  impose.  Others,  not  aware  of  this  tendency  of 
strong  drinks  to  increase  the  impelling  forces,  appetites,  and 
passions,  while  it  cripples  the  regulating  forces,  are,  through 
the  solicitations  of  friends,  led  to  swallow  a  portion,  and  while 
under  its  influence,  make  shipwreck  of  character,  of  prop- 
erty, or  life.  The  cautious  and  prudent  man  becomes,  under 
their  influence,  reckless  and  abandoned.  Give  the  stage-driver, 
who  is  noted  for  prudence  and  skill  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties,  a  glass  or  two  of  rum  or  brandy,  and  observe  with 
what  recklessness  he  dashes  down  the  hill  which,  were  he  in 
the  possession  of  his  usual  degree  of  regulating  power,  he 
would  descend  with  the  utmost  care,  and  at  a  very  moderate 
pace.  Whichever  way  we  turn,  we  see  the  terrible  effects 
of  recklessness  occasioned  by  strong  drinks.  Steamboats  and 
other  vessels  dash  against  each  other,  or  upon  the  rocks,  when 
officers  or  pilots  are  under  the  influence  of  strong  drinks,  and 
property  and  life  to  an  appalling  extent  are  thus  sacrificed. 
More  than  one  half  of  the  so  called  accidents  which  occur  on 
land  and  water  may  be  justly  charged  to  this  same  destructive 
influence ;  and  yet  there  are  those  in  this  community,  and  in 
every  section  of  our  country,  who  would  perpetuate  the  traffic 
in  intoxicating  drinks  through  all  coming  time. 

But,  Mr.  President,  and  fellow-citizens,  the  certain  destruc- 
tion of  vast  numbers  of  those  who  are  now  intemperate ;  the 
consignment  of  thousands  of  the  rising  generation  to  the 
miserable  life,  and  more  miserable  death,  of  the  drunkard ; 
the  embarrassment  of  all  useful  branches  of  business,  and  the 
exposure  of  property  and  life  by  the  recklessness  of  intoxicated 


TRAFFIC    IN    INTOXICATING    DRINKS.  93 

men ;  all  these,  though  enough,  as  we  might  suppose,  to  enlist 
the  active  energies  of  a  whole  community  against  the  traffic 
in  intoxicating  drinks,  do  not  by  any  means  close  the  catalogue 
of  evils  which  are  sure  to  attend  its  continuance.  It  will  con- 
tinue to  be,  what  it  has  ever  been  since  the  oldest  persons  in 
this  assembly  were  able  to  observe  its  practical  results,  the 
most  serious  obstacle  in  the  path  of  every  organization  or 
association  established  to  promote  the  intelligence,  morality, 
or  social  enjoyment  of  men,  or  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
through  the  world.  It  is  not  necessary  that  we  go  into  detail 
on  this  point,  the  truth  is  so  obvious.  The  village  lyceum  and 
public  library  find  in  the  village  tavern  and  dram-shop  a  too 
successful  rival  for  the  patronage  of  the  public. 

The  discussions  at  the  lyceum  hall  on  great  questions  of 
public  interest  are  not  sufficiently  exciting  for  those  who  are 
accustomed  to  the  more  intense  but  unprofitable  excitements 
of  the  bar-room.  Missionary,  Bible,  and  Sabbath  school  socie- 
ties have  ever  found,  and,  from  the  nature  of  things,  must 
ever  find,  in  the  traffic  in  strong  drinks,  a  most  determined  foe. 
Go  to  those  who  are  putting  forth  efforts  for  the  elevation  of 
our  seamen,  or  those  who  are  toiling  to  give  fuel,  shelter,  and 
employment  to  the  emigrant  or  the  native  poor  of  our  large 
cities,  and  ask  any  or  all  of  them  what,  more  than  any  other 
influences,  hinders  the  accomplishment  of  their  benevolent 
designs,  and  they  will  promptly  answer,  intoxicating  drinks. 
This  curse  of  the  world  throws  itself  directly  across  the  path 
of  every  reformatory  movement,  and  ever  will  do  so  while  it 
is  tolerated  among  us.  It  contributes  more  than  any  and  all 
other  influences  to  create  a  necessity  for  benevolent  efforts, 
and  tends  more  than  any  and  all  other  influences  to  embarrass 
and  render  them  ineffectual. 

Such  are  some  of  the  results  which  must,  from  the  nature  of 
things,  inevitably  follow  the  continuance  of  the  traffic  in  intox- 
icating drinks  in  the  community.  What  does  it  promise  you 
of  good  in  return  ?  Positively  nothing.  But  some  one  may 
reply  that  alcoholic  liquors  are  very  good  sometimes  as  a 


94  PROSPECTIVE    RESULTS    OF    THE    RUM   TRAFFIC. 

medicine.  Suppose  we  admit  it ;  and  does  it  follow  that  oiil 
taverns  and  stores  are  to  be  converted  into  apothecary  shops, 
and  the  clerks  of  our  public  houses  are  to  take  upon  them- 
selves the  responsibility  of  prescribing  for  the  sick,  and 
administering  medicine  ?  The  oil  or  fat  of  the  rattlesnake 
has  been  recommended  as  a  very  useful  application  in  cases 
of  chronic  rheumatism  ;  but  suppose  it  be  quite  efficacious,  is 
it  therefore  best  to  import  a  cargo  of  rattlesnakes,  and  allow 
them  to  crawl  around  our  gardens  and  fields,  that  we  may 
be  sure  and  have  a  remedy  at  hand  against  a  possible  attack 
of  rheumatism  ? 

Mr.  President,  we  have  all  enough  of  common  sense  c 
serve  us  in  this  matter  if  we  will  but  exercise  it.  There  are  new 
many  towns  in  New  England  from  which  the  traffic  has  beet) 
driven  out,  and  I  have  heard  of  no  deaths  from  the  want  of 
medicine, 


PROPS  OF  THE  RUM  TRAFFIC,  AND  WEAPONS 
OF  THE  ENEMY. 


IN  actual  warfare,  it  is  not  only  natural  for,  but  important 
to  those  engaged  in  conflict,  to  ascertain,  with  as  much  accu- 
racy as  possible,  not  only  the  numerical  strength  of  their 
opponents,  but  their  means  of  offence  and  defence  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  the  number  and  character  of  those  instruments 
with  which  they  may  protect  themselves  arid  assail  others. 
With  this  view,  spies  are  often  sent  to  the  enemy's  camp,  at 
imminent  hazard  to  their  own  lives  ;  and  in  this  way,  informa- 
tion has  often  been  obtained  which  has  enabled  the  party 
obtaining  it  to  secure  signal  advantages  over  their  enemies. 

Believing  that  it  may  be  of  some  service  to  the  temperance 
army  to  have  a  tolerably  clear  understanding  of  the  means  of 
defence  and  offence  now  in  the  hands  of  their  legitimate  op- 
ponents, we  propose,  in  this  article,  to  give  to  it  the  results 
of  a  pretty  extensive  observation,  which  we  have  been  enabled 
to  make,  of  the  enemy's  camp  and  defences.  If  we  should 
be  hanged  as  a  spy  for  our  pains,  we  shall  have  the  consolation 
of  knowing  that  better  men  than  ourselves  have  ascended  the 
scaffold,  and  the  last  request  we  shall  make  of  our  executioners 
shall  be,  that  they  will  approach  us  on  the  leewa.rd  side  of  the 
platform,  that  the  air  which  shall  last  visit  our  lungs  may  be 
uninfected. 

The  rum  host  encamped  over  against  us,  place  their  whole 
reliance,  both  for  offence  and  defence,  on  four  distinct  instru- 
mentalities. They  are,  — 

First— SECRECY. 


96  PROPS  OF  THE  RUM  TRAFFIC, 

Secondly  —  FALSEHOOD. 

Thirdly  — THE  ENTIRE  DEVOTION  OF  THEIR 
POLITICAL  POWER  TO  THE  SUPPORT  OF  THE 
RUM  TRAFFIC. 

Fourthly,  and  lastly— THE   INFLUENCE   OF   FEAR 

IN  OUR  CAMP,  WHICH  THEY  CREATE  BY  OCCASIONAL  AND 
MOST  DASTARDLY  ATTACKS  UPON  THE  PERSONS  AND  PROPERTY 
OF  THOSE  WHO  RENDER  THEMSELVES  CONSPICUOUS  BY  THEIR 
EFFORTS  TO  SUPPRESS  THE  TRAFFIC  IN  POISON. 

These  comprise  their  whole  enginery  for  defence  and  as- 
sault ;  and,  if  we  could  find  means  to  deprive  them  of  the 
use  of  those  four  weapons,  they  would  be  rendered  powerless 
in  an  instant,  and  the  murderous  system  they  are  now  sustain- 
ing would  fall  to  the  ground,  with  a  crash  which  devils  would 
hear  with  dismay. 

We  will  proceed  to  remark,  briefly,  upon  each  of  those 
instrumentalities  —  the  mode  or  modes  of  its  employment  — 
its  power,  &c.,  as  compared  with  others ;  hoping  that  we 
may  thus  aid  the  friends  of  temperance  in  the  great  work 
before  them. 

SECRECY. 

Secrecy  is  not  always  indicative  of  mischief;  but  where 
public  sentiment  is  not  utterly  and  hopelessly  corrupt,  f\  vile 
and  infamous  system  cannot  long  continue  to  exist  without  it. 

Our  opponents  understand  this,  and  avail  themselves  of  its 
aid  in  the  prosecution  of  their  nefarious  designs.  They  have 
sought  to  hang  an  impenetrable  veil  around  those  establish- 
ments where  factitious  wines  and  adulterated  liquors  are  pre- 
pared, with  which  the  mass  of  drinkers  are  both  imposed  upon 
and  poisoned.  Enough,  however,  has  been  learned  of  those 
liquors,  and  the  destructive  and  disgusting  materials  employed 
in  their  manufacture,  to  associate  them  forever,  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  have  investigated  the  subject,  with  the  delicate 
compound  prepared  by  Macbeth's  witches,  some  of  the  pre- 


AND  WEAPONS  OF  THE  ENEMY.  97 

cious  ingredients  of  which  were,  as  enumerated  by  the  second 
witch  — 

"  Fillet  of  a  fenny  snake, 
In  the  caldron  boil  and  bake  ; 
Eye  of  newt,  and  toe  of  frog, 
"Wool  of  bat,  and  tongue  of  dog, 
Adder's  fork,  and  blind  worm's  sting, 
Lizard's  leg,  and  owlet's  wing  — 
For  a  charm  of  powerful  trouble, 
Like  a  hell-broth  boil  and  bubble." 

They  place  screens  before  the  bar,  that  the  machinery  and 
movements  behind  it  may  not  be  seen  from  the  street.  They 
curtain  the  windows  of  the  liquor  saloons  and  drinking  estab- 
lishments, of  every  grade,  that  the  public  eye  may  not  look  in 
on  the  infernal  orgies  of  their  inmates.  They  have  invented  a 
thousand  names  for  their  drinks,  that  the  deluded  men  who 
swallow  them  may  be  enabled  to  call  for  what  they  desire  in 
a  language  not  understood  by  the  uninitiated.  The  poorer 
victims  of  this  infamous  system  they  secrete,  when  they  become 
helplessly  drunk,  in  back  rooms,  sheds,  barns,  or  narrow  lanes, 
not  troubling  themselves  to  inquire  whether  they  be  thinly 
clad  or  otherwise,  or  whether  the  thermometer  be  above  or 
below  zero.  The  rich  customer,  whom  they  have  rendered 
helpless  by  their  poisonous  draughts,  they  send  home  in  a 
coach,  when  that  old  water-drinker,  the  sun,  has  gone  to  bed, 
and  their  auxiliary,  night,  has  drawn  her  curtain  around  the 
scene.  The  coachman  wont '  peach,'  as  he  shares  the  plunder, 
and  understands  the  '  game.'  Secrecy,  we  repeat,  is  to  the 
system  indispensable.  Pull  off  the  disguises  that  are  thrown 
around  it  —  tear  down  the  curtains,  and  push  aside  the  screens, 
and  let  the  blessed  light  of  the  sun,  and  the  eyes  of  men, 
look  in  upon  the  doings  within  those  hells  upon  earth,  and 
they  would  be  closed  in  a  month,  or  the  earth,  which  they 
pollute  and  curse,  would  be  strewn  with  their  fragments,  by  an 
injured  and  indignant  community. 
9 


98  PROPS    OF   THE   RUM   TRAFFI  . 

FALSEHOOD. 

This  stands  number  two  on  the  list  of  their  weapons  of  war. 
The  whole  system,  comprising  the    manufacture,    sale,   and 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  as  a  drink,  when  at  the  highest 
niche  of  its  popularity,  stood  on  a   stupendous   lie.     It  was 
established,  and  rested  on  the  notion  that  the  moderate  use  of 
alcoholic  liquors  was   promotive  of  human   health  and  hap- 
piness.    This  doctrine  was  long  since  exploded.     The  laws 
licensing  the  traffic,  in  accordance  with  the  notion  that  it  was 
promotive    of   the  public  good,  should   have  been  abolished 
long  since  ;  for  they  are  now  known  to  rest  on  a  false  founda- 
tion, and  are  a  disgrace  to  the  statute-book  of  an  intelligent 
and    Christian    people.     But    aside    from   the   false    notions 
of  former  days,  the  false  system  built  upon  them,  and  the 
false    and   destructive   legislation  which   sanctioned  and  sus- 
tained the   traffic,  the  whole  system,  as  it  now  exists,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  still  to  the  stomach    of  the  drunkard,  is 
sustained  by  falsehood.     Every  link  in  the  chain  of  its  con- 
nections and  dependences,  has  attached  to  it  a  well-understood 
and   barefaced   lie.      The   wholesale  dealers,  with  very  few 
exceptions,  season  half  the  sales  they  make  with  falsehoods, 
so  as  to  veil  the  character  of  their  business.     They  sell  for 
imported  wines  and  liquors,  vile  compounds  of  domestic  man- 
ufacture.    Casks,  in  which  liquors  have  been  imported,  and 
which  have  the  importer's  brand  upon  them,  they  preserve,  after 
they  have  been  emptied  of  their  contents,  and  filling  them 
with  cheap  liquors,  of  their  own  mixing,  they  sell   them  for 
imported  liquors.     If  any  doubt  is  expressed,  by  the  purchaser, 
as  to  the  quality  of  the  liquor,  he  is  pointed  to  the  importer's 
brand  on  the  cask ;  and,  to  place  the  matter  beyond  dispute, 
the  dealer  will  draw,  from  his  desk  or  pocket-book,  the  cer- 
tificate of  importation,  which  he  has  been  careful  to  preserve ! 
Thus,  by  the  monstrous  frauds  and  falsehoods  of  the  wholesale 
dealers,  the  consumers  are   imposed  upon,  and  swallow  often" 
times,  with  the  alcohol,  poisons  even  more  destructive.     Retail- 


AND  WEAPONS  OF  THE  ENEMY.  99 

ers  of  liquors,  nine  out  of  every  ten,  whatever  may  be  the 
cut  of  their  coat,  or  the  quality  of  its  fabric,  are  systematic 
and  notorious  liars  —  made  so  from  the  nature  of  their  busi- 
ness. They  will,  almost  to  a  man,  protest  that  they  do  not 
sell  to  men  whom  they  know  to  be  intemperate  :  yet  not  one 
in  ten  will  scruple  to  do  so.  "  He  did  not  get  his  liquor  here" 
is  their  stereotyped  language,  in  relation  to  individual  cases 
of  drunkenness,  attended  with  unusual  circumstances  of 
disaster  or  shame  ;  yet  the  language  is  more  frequently  false 
than  true.  "  Your  husland  is  not  here,  madam ;  I  have  not 
seen  him  this  evening"  is  often  the  reply  to  the  anxious  inquiry 
of  the  half-distracted  wife,  in  pursuit  of  the  father  of  her 
famishing  little  ones,  when  the  black-hearted  and  cold-blooded 
villain,  who  utters  those  words,  knows  that  the  dissolute  man 
is,  at  that  very  moment,  within  his  doors,  revelling  with  his 
drunken  companions.  It  is  seldom  that  an  inquirer,  however 
respectful,  can  get  from  a  retailer  of  intoxicating  drinks  any 
thing  like  the  truth  in  relation  to  any  material  point  connected 
with  his  traffic. 

Moderate  drinkers,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  labor  to  deceive 
their  friends  in  relation  to  the  amount  of  liquors  they  consume. 
Men  who  would  scorn  to  lie  in  relation  to  any  other  matter, 
will  utter  falsehood,  without  hesitation,  if  falsehood  will  con- 
tribute to  secure  to  them  the  means  of  gratifying  the  all- 
controlling  appetite  for  intoxicating  stimulants.  The  wretched 
drunkard  will  stealthily  creep  to  his  concealed  bottle,  twenty 
times  in  the  day,  and  saturate  his  bloated  bulk  with  the  con- 
tents ;  and  then,  turning  his  glazed  eye  full  upon  you,  and 
puffing  in  your  fice,  at  every  breath,  an  atmosphere  saturated 
with  rum,  he  will  declare  to  you  that  he  has  only  drank 
two  or  three  glasses  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  will  hiccup 
out  a  dozen  oaths  to  confirm  his  statement.  Casks,  demijohns, 
and  other  inanimate  receptacles  of  liquors,  are  often  made  to 
lie  in  the  service,  and  for  the  support  of  this  false  and  wicked 
system,  bearing  on  their  heads,  or  some  prominent  part  of 
their  bodies,  the  words,  "  turpentine,"  "  oil,""  "  vinegar," 


100  FROPS  OF  THE  RUM  TRAFFIC, 

"  molasses,"  &c. ;  any  thing,  in  short,  but  the  real  name  of 
their  contents ;  and  thus  they  often  go  forth  on  their  errands 
of  death,  with  poison  inside,  and  a  lie  on  the  surface.  Every 
thing  is  made  to  utter  falsehood  in  connection  with  this  system. 
"  Here  is  your  good  health,  sir "  — "  And  yours,  sir," 
mutually  exclaim  the  genteel  consumers  of  alcoholic  drinks, 
as  they  bow  to  each  other,  glass  in  hand,  across  the  dinner 
table,  or  before  the  tavern  bar.  They  both  utter  falsehood, 
and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  they  do  it  knowingly.  If  they 
would  utter  the  language  of  truth,  in  such  cases,  they  would 
exclaim,  as  they  lift  the  poison  to  their  lips  —  "  Here,  my  dear 
sir,  is  disease  to  us  both  —  the  clouding  of  our  intellects,  the 
depravation  of  our  morals,  the  alienation  of  our  social  affec- 
tions, weeping  to  our  wives,  and  poverty  to  our  children  — 
and  to  ourselves,  perhaps,  delirium  tremens  and  an  untimely 
grave."  Truth,  however,  would  not  answer  their  purpose.  It 
would  not  add  to  the  self-complacency  with  which  they  min- 
ister to  a  depraved  animal  appetite,  and  take  another  step 
toward  a  drunkard's  grave  and  a  drunkard's  hell. 

The  impunity  with  which  the  infernal  system  is  continued 
in  those  parts  of  New  England  where  it  is  proscribed  by  law. 
is  mainly  purchased  by  the  falsehood  of  its  miserable  victims, 
uttered  in  our  courts  of  justice,  and  under  the  awful  responsi- 
bilities incurred  by  an  oath  —  by  invoking  a  righteous  God  to 
witness  to  the  truth  of  the  testimony  they  are  about  to  give. 
What  is  truly  astounding,  but  almost  universally  true,  is,  that 
all  parties  who  join  in  the  support  of  this  system,  and  who 
happen  to  be  present  at  the  courts  where  such  wholesale  per- 
jury is  committed,  do  grin  and  chuckle  at  such  exhibitions  of 
depravity,  which  well  might  make  good  men  and  angels  weep. 
As  with  that  great  prop  of  the  system,  secrecy,  so  with  false- 
hood—  deprive  the  curse  we  are  combating  of  the  support 
of  either,  and  it  would  vanish  from  the  earth.  The  conditions 
of  its  present  and  future  existence  are  fixed  and  immutable. 
It  must  wear  a  garment  of  secrecy,  and  breathe  an  atmosphere 
of  lies,  or  die; 


AND   WEAPONS    OF    THE    ENEMY.  101 

THE  POLITICAL  PROP. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  lovers  of  strong  drink  love  it  so 
ardently  that  they  will,  to  secure  a  supply  of  it,  sacrifice  all 
their  political  preferences.  Is  Mr.  Tippler  a  whig  ?  He  will 
desert  his  party,  and  be  found  voting  with  its  political  op- 
ponents, if  his  party,  being  in  power,  shall  attempt  to  suppress 
the  rum  traffic.  Is  he  a  democrat  ?  Rum  is  dearer  to  him 
than  democracy ;  and  should  his  party  conceive  it  to  be  a  part 
of  their  mission  to  banish  rum  from  the  territory  over  which 
they  exercise  political  sway,  he  will  break  away  from  party 
attachments,  and  vote  for  any  individual,  party,  or  power  that 
promises  most  certainly  to  secure  the  sale  of  rum.  He  may, 
indeed,  profess  to  deprecate  the  carrying  of  temperance  into 
politics  ;  he  will,  nevertheless,  employ  his  own  vote,  and,  as 
far  as  practicable,  the  votes  of  others,  to  sustain  his  idol,  and 
to  crush  every  effort  to  annihilate  an  influence  which  is  filling 
our  poor-houses  and  prisons  with  inmates,  the  grave  with 
untimely  victims,  and  the  hearts  of  thousands  with  unutterable 
anguish.  The  supporters  of  the  rum  traffic  will,  we  repeat, 
almost  universally  sacrifice  their  political  preferences  for  its 
maintenance  ;  and,  as  few  of  our  temperance-  brethren  will 
give  their  temperance  the  first  place  in  their  affections,  the 
traffic  either  gets  a  legal  sanction,  or  the  law  is  rendered  in- 
operative by  the  neglect  or  connivance  of  executive  officers. 

THE  LAST  RESORT. 

Where  all  the  instrumentalities  we  have  described  fail  to 
secure  the  end  they  aim  at  —  impunity  to  sell  and  use  intox- 
icating drinks  to  the  extent  of  their  wishes  —  the  last  shot  in 
their  locker  is  thrown  with  very  considerable  effect.  They 
conclude  that  if  Messrs.  A,  B,  and  C  can  be  silenced  or  startled 
by  some  signal  manifestation  of  rum  vengeance,  it  will  not 
only  restrain  them  from  further  efforts,  but  will  fill  the  less 
bold  and  active  of  the  temperance  men  with  alarm,  and  stop 
further  proceedings  on  their  part.  Immediately  thereupon, 
9* 


102  PROPS  OF  THE  RUM  TRAFFIC. 

some  dastardly  assault  is  made,  under  cover  of  darkness,  on 
the  property  of  some  of  the  most  active  reformers.  A  fence 
is  torn  down  —  doors  are  defiled  with  filth  —  stacks  or  barns 
are  burned  —  horses  or  cattle  are  mutilated — trees  in  the 
yard  or  orchard  are  girdled  or  sawed  down  ;  or,  as  in  the 
recent  case  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  powder  is  employed  to  blow 
up  their  buildings.  Thus  the  rum  fraternity  seek  to  establish 
a  reign  of  terror,  which  shall  deter  all,  in  their  vicinity,  who 
are  engaged  in  efforts  to  put  a  stop  to  their  iniquitous  proceed- 
ings, from  the  further  prosecution  of  their  laudable  designs. 

Such,  if  we  are  not  deceived,  are  the  instrumentalities  now 
relied  upon  by  those  who  seek  to  fasten  upon  society,  at  least 
so  long  as  they  shall  exist  here,  the  most  fruitful  source  of 
misery,  crime,  and  death  that  is  permitted  to  exist  among  men. 


MEANS  FOR  REMOVING  THE*  CURSE  OF 
INTEMPERANCE. 


A  DISCOURSE  DELIVERED  AT  BRIDGEPORT,  CONNECTICUT, 
IN  JANUARY,  1849. 

REPORTED   FROM  MEMORY,   BY  THE  AUTHOR. 


MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  — 

FOR  a  number  of  evenings,  I  have  labored  to  convey  to  the 
minds  of  those  who  have  honored  me  with  their  attention, 
such  views  of  the  giant  evil  of  our  land,  intemperance,  as 
have  been  fixed  in  my  own  mind  by  much  reflection,  and  a 
careful  investigation  of  the  subject,  during  a  period  of  many 
years.  If  I  have  established  in  your  minds  the  conviction  of 
my  own  in  relation  to  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  terrible 
scourge  we  are  seeking  to  remove,  and  of  our  individual 
dangers  and  responsibilities  connected  therewith,  you  have 
already  come  to  the  conclusion  that  something  ought  to  be 
done  for  its  removal.  But  what  shall  be  done  ?  What  can 
we  do  that  may  afford  us  a  reasonable  ground  for  hope  that 
we  shall  ever  be  rid  of  the  guilt  and  miseries  of  intemper- 
ance ?  It  shall  be  the  object  of  this  discourse  to  answer 
these  questions. 

I  know  very  well  that  when  these  questions  come  up  for 
consideration,  there  are  multitudes  of  faithless  souls  who  at 
once  begin  to  cry  out,  "  You  can't  prevent  it."  "  Do  what  you 
will,  and  all  you  can,  and  men  will  sell  rum,  and  drink  it,  and 


104  MEANS    FOR    REMOVING 

be  drunkards. '  So  long  as  that  notion  finds  a  place  in  the 
opinions  of  a  very  large  portion  of  our  citizens,  we  certainly 
shall  not  remove  the  scourge,  because  we  shall  never  agree  to 
put  forth  the  necessary  efforts  with  that  degree  of  energy  and 
perseverance  which  are  indispensable  to  success.  But,  sir, 
there  is  no  can't,  about  it.  The  causes  and  sources  of  the  mis- 
chief are  known,  and  they  are  all  within  the  reach  of  human 
influence,  and  may  be  removed  by  the  determined  will  and 
strong  hands  of  freemen,  or  the  belief  in  man's  capability  for 
self-government  is  unfounded,  and  our  institutions  built  on  that 
doctrine  are  but  a  house  on  the  sand,  or,  to  use  a  modern  and 
very  expressive  phrase,  "  a  magnificent  humbug." 

This  is  not  "  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness,"*  but 
"  the  destruction  that  wasteth  at  noonday."  The  contagion 
of  yellow  fever,  plague,  and  cholera  are  mingled  with  the 
atmosphere, and  invisible.  We  receive  it  before  we  are  aware, 
and  unless  we  fly  our  country,  we  may  not  escape  its  influ- 
ences. What  is  the  nature  of  the  atmospheric  changes  which 
produce  these  terrible  diseases,  we  know  not.  They  are  too 
subtile  for  our  chemistry.  We  cannot  detect  the  mischievous 
agent  by  any  known  tests.  But,  sir,  we  can  see  a  distillery  ; 
and  if  we  were  blind,  and  could  not,  we  might  detect  its  pres- 
ence by  another  sense,  the  organ  of  which  is  a  near  neighbor 
to  the  eyes.  We  understand  the  process  by  which  the  fruits 
of  the  earth  are  converted  into  its  bane  and  curse,  alcohol. 
There  is  no  mystery  about  a  rum  bottle,  a  wine  flask,  or  a 
beer  barrel  which  we  may  not  fathom.  So  well,  indeed,  are 
the  causes  of  drunkenness  understood,  that,  when  one  sees  in 
the  street  an  intoxicated  man,  the  mind  involuntary  runs 
back  to  the  dram-shop,  tavern,  or  liquor  store  where  he  obtained 
the  poison  which  has  unmanned  him,  and,  without  waiting  for 
the  decision  of  judge  or  jury,  we  pass  instant  condemnation 
on  the  vile  business  which  thus  degrades  and  injures  our  fel- 
low-men, and  on  the  individual  who  makes  himself  a  voluntary 
agent  of  so  much  mischief  and  misery.  I  repeat  it,  so  far  as 
that  curse  of  curses,  intemperance,  is  concerned,  the  relation 


THE    CURSE    OF   INTEMPERANCE.  105 

between  came  and  effect  is  now  traced  with  perfect  ease. 
Who  now  can  pass  a  distillery  without  thinking  of  its  legitimate 
fruits  —  diseased,  bloated,  degraded,  and  ruined  men,  dilap- 
idated buildings  and  wasted  estates,  broken  hearts  and  un- 
timely graves  ?  The  distillery,  liquor  shop,  and  the  tavern, 
where  strong  drink  is  furnished  to  men,  are  facts  from  which 
degradation  and  drunkenness,  the  poor-house,  the  prison,  and 
the  grave  are  natural  inferences.  There  is  not  now  in  New 
England  one  temperate  man  in  ten  who  can  pass  a  team 
loaded  with  gin  or  brandy  casks,  apparently  filled,  and  on 
their  way  to  the  country,  without  its  being  instantly  associated 
in  his  mind  with  the  degradation  which  is  sure  to  attend  its  con- 
sumption. Sir,  if  the  skeleton  king,  and  a  delegation  of 
devils,  were  to  dance  along  the  road  in  rear  of  such  an 
accursed  freight,  the  hint  of  its  consequences  would  scarcely 
be  more  distinct,  to  sober,  rational  men,  than  is  now  afforded 
by  the  sight  of  those  casks. 

Sir,  the  causes  are  not  only  understood,  but  they  are  all 
within  the  reach  of  human  hands.  If  Mr.  A.  B.  can  tinker 
out  of  sheet  copper  a  tea-kettle  for  'Satan,  and  set  it  boiling,  1 
can  dash  cold  water  on  the  fire,  and,  with  a  sledge  hammer, 
break  the  kettle  in  pieces.  "  But  such  a  course  would  be  con- 
trary to  law."  Then  legalize  it  by  your  will  and  votes,  and  make 
me  sheriff  of  the  county,  and  your  agent  to  do  that  work,  and, 
God  helping  me,  you  shall  have  no  occasion  to  complain  of 
my  neglect  of  official  duties.  Muscles  arid  sledge  hammers 
were  never  better  employed  than  they  would  be  in  demolish- 
ing those  accursed  structures  which,  swallowing  up,  as  they 
do,  immense  quantities  of  fuel,  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
while  thousands  lack  for  fire  and  bread,  send  out  in  return 
a  ceaseless  torrent  of  disease  and  death  upon  a  suffering  world. 
If  men  can  erect,  in  one  of  our  beautiful  villages,  a  grog-shop, 
fill  it  with  the  materials  of  mischief,  call  about  them  the  reck- 
less and  vile,  and,  after  having  dedicated  it  to  the  work  of 
death  by  an  evening's  debauch  and  carousal,  set  in  earnest 
about  the  work  of  ruining  our  youth,  and  cursing  all  the  inter- 


106  MEANS    FOR    REMOVING 

ests  of  that  community,  why  shall  not  the  strong  hands  of  the 
sober  and  moral  portion  of  that  community  empty  the  vile 
concern  of  its  inmates  and  contents,  and  bar  its  doors  against 
their  return  ?  or,  if  that  be  not  effectual,  pile  the  shattered 
fragments  of  that  little  village  hell  "  heaps  upon  heaps "  ? 
"  Why,  it  would  be  contrary  to  law."  Then  amend  your 
laws,  and  let  their  sanction  be  given  to  such  a  righteous  work. 
You  can  authorize  the  sheriff  now  to  take  forcible  possession 
of  the  tools  of  him  who  counterfeits  your  coin,  and  he  may 
destroy  them  b/  order  of  the  court;  and  why  may  he  not 
make  the  same  disposition  of  those  tools,  which,  as  John 
Pierpont  once  expressed  it,  are  employed  to  mar  God's 
image,  and  turn  off  counterfeit  men  upon  the  community  ? 

Mr.  President,  if  society  may  not  protect  itself  from  such  a 
system  of  wrong  and  outrage,  under  our  form  of  government, 
then  our  government  is  not  worthy  of  the  encomiums  pro- 
nounced upon  it.  But,  sir,  there  is  no  question  about  our 
ability  and  right  to  sweep  this  whole  system  from  the  face  of 
society,  just  as  soon  as  the  sober,  moral,  and  Christian  portion 
of  community  are  prepared  to  do  their  duty  in  the  premises. 
But  by  what  means  shall  they  be  prepared  ?  I  answer,  first, 
of  all,  let  every  man  who  has  come  to  the  light  on  this  subject 
set  before  his  fellow-men  a  consistent  example.  Let  him  abstain 
now,  and  always,  from  the  use  of  any  form  or  mixture  of 
intoxicating  liquors  as  a  beverage.  Let  this  be  a  matter  of 
principle,  the  result  of  a  firm,  settled  conviction  of  duty  ;  and 
Jet  every  one  who  desires  to  add  his  influence  to  that  blessed 
tide  which  shall  sweep  the  curse  from  the  earth,  see  to  it,  that 
the  cause  of  temperance  is  never  dishonored  and  wounded  by 
his  personal  inconsistency.  I  care  not  how  much  a  man  may 
declaim  against  this  evil,  nor  what  efforts  he  may  put  forth  to 
promote  the  cause  —  he  will  accomplish  but  very  little  if  it  be 
understood  that  he  ever  allows  himself  to  employ  intoxicating 
stimulants,  of  any  kind,  as  a  drink,  under  any  circumstances. 
Those  whom  he  may  seek  to  reclaim  from  habits  of  intem- 
perance will,  if  he  be  known  to  use  the  article  at  all,  taunt 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  107 

him  with  his  inconsistency,  and  thereafter  all  his  words  are 
vain.  The  argument  for  personal  abstinence  has  been  so 
frequently  and  strongly  urged,  of  late  years,  by  almost  every 
one  who  has  opened  his  rnouth  in  the  advocacy  of  the  tem- 
perance cause,  and  I  have  myself,  on  former  occasions,  and 
before  this  people,  given  my  views  so  fully  on  that  branch  of 
the  subject,  that  I  do  not  feel  it  necessary  to  dwell  longer,  at 
the  present  time,  on  the  duty  and  influence  of  personal  ex- 
ample, and  will,  therefore,  only  remark  that,  as  it  is  the  most 
noiseless  instrumentality  we  can  employ  in  the  work  of  reform, 
so  it  is  the  most  effective. 

Next  to  the  power  of  consistent  example  as  a  reformatory 
influence,  I  would  reckon  the  plain  arid  forcible  utterance  of 
the  truth  in  relation  to  all  points  of  this  great  question.  In 
relation  to  the  subject  of  temperance,  as  well  as  most  other 
matters,  our  success,  will  in  a  great  measure,  depend  upon 
timing  our  efforts  aright.  An  attempt  to  sustain  a  series  of 
social  meetings  for  a  number  of  evenings  in  succession,  during 
the  month  of  July,  and  in  an  agricultural  community,  would 
necessarily  result  in  a  failure,  and  should  not  therefore  be 
attempted.  We  should  do  more  harm  than  good,  in  a  majority 
of  cases,  were  we  to  attempt  a  labored  argument  on  this  sub- 
ject in  the  midst  of  a  thoughtless  and  half-intoxicated  rabble. 
That  is  not  the  place, and  those  are  not  the  circumstances,  most 
favorable  to  secure  a  hold  for  the  truth  on  the  consciences  of 
men.  The  same  thoughtful  exercise  of  our  common  sense 
should  guide  us,  also,  in  the  manner  of  presenting  the  truth,  as 
well  as  in  the  choice  of  time  and  place.  If  we  would  be  suc- 
cessful in  winning  men  to  the  embrace  of  our  cause  and  prin- 
ciples, we  must  study  the  subject  thoroughly,  and  understand,  so 
far  as  may  be  possible,  the  practical  bearing  of  intemperance 
on  the  business  and  interests  of  the  persons  we  address.  When 
addressing  an  irreligious  man,  who  seems  to  be  scarcely  aware 
of  possessing  a  spiritual  nature,  a  title  to  immortality,  what 
good  influence  can  we  hope  to  exert  on  his  mind  by  an  argu- 
ment to  convince  him  that  the  use  of  strong  drinks  is  prejudi- 


108  MEANS    FOR    REMOVING 

cial  to  the  religious  interests  of  men,  that  it  greatly  hinders 
the  work  of  spreading  the  gospel,  &c.  ?  Our  argument  does 
not  touch  him  at  all.  There  may  be,  however,  avenues  to 
Ms  heart.  We  may  move  him  to  aid  us  in  advancing  our 
cause,  by  the  presentation  of  motives  he  is  prepared  to  ap- 
preciate. He  may  be  a  hard-working,  industrious  man,  a 
great  lover  of  dollars,  and  one  who  is  very  careful  in  relation 
to  his  expenditures.  What  string  will  you  pull  with  that  man  ? 
Foot  up  his  tax  bill,  and  show  him,  by  incontestable  facts,  that 
three  fourths  of  the  tax  he  annually  pays  is  drawn  from  his 
pocket  by  the  influence  of,  and  to  repair  the  mischief  wrought 
by,  the  rum  traffic.  He  will  listen  to  you  while  you  talk  on  that 
subject,  and,  if  he  be  not  himself  a  slave  to  the  bottle,  and 
you  can  clearly  prove  to  him  that  this  detestable  system, 
against  which  we  are  warring,  calls  for  ten  dollars  of  his  hard- 
earned  gains  annually,  to  support  it,  he  will  rebel,  and  join 
you  in  yOur  warfare  against  it.  If  the  striking  characteristics 
of  another  of  your  neighbors  be  the  strength  of  his  social 
affections,  and  he  have  a  family  of  sons  and  daughters  grow 
ing  up  around  him,  talk  to  that  man  of  the  terrible  havoc 
which  strono-  drink  has  made  in  the  domestic  circle.  Remind 

O 

him  that  one  of  three  sons  in  the  family  of  Mr.  A.  has  been 
ruined  by  the  traffic  and  use  of  strong  drink ;  and  of  the  fact 
that  two  daughters  of  Mr.  B.  have  had  their  hopes  of  hap- 
piness for  this  life  crushed  by  the  drunkenness  of  their  hus- 
bands ;  that  one  of  them  has  already  been  obliged  to  leave 
her  young  husband,  transformed,  almost  daily,  to  a  demon  by 
intoxicating  drinks,  and  has,  with  her  little  ones,  gone  back  to 
her  father's  house,  her  heart  broken,  and  her  hopes  and  pros- 
pects blasted,'scathed  as  with  the  lightning's  stroke.  While  you 
talk  to  your  neighbor  of  these  terrible  results  of  the  dram-shop, 
which,  perhaps,  stands  within  a  hundred  rods  of  his  own  door, 
and  remind  him  of  the  danger  to  which  every  family  is  exposed 
by  this  terrible  curse,  a  fire  kindles  in  his  heart  and  gleams 
from  his  eyes,  and  he  will  declare  his  readiness  to  go  with  you 
to  the  death  against  this  Moloch  of  civilization.  If  conversing 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  109 

with  a  truly  religious  or  Christian  man,  point  him  to  the  sad 
havoc  made  within  the  pale  of  the  church  by  this  terrible 
destroyer,  and  its  influence  to  hinder  the  spread  arid  power 
of  truth  on  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men,  and  you  need 
go  no  farther  with  that  man.  If  he  be  a  Christian  indeed,  you 
will  win  him. 

I  have  thus  far  spoken  only  of  the  presentation  of  the  truth 
to  individual  minds.  Much  may  be  done  for  the  promotion 
of  the  cause  by  a  series  of  social  meetings,  in  which  all  the 
points  of  this  great  question  may  be  discussed  in  a  familiar 
way,  by  the  citizens  of  that  particular  community.  It  is  a 
sad,  I  had  almost  said  a  fatal,  mistake  for  the  friends  of  tem- 
perance, in  any  place,  to  suppose  that  nothing  can  be  done  for 
the  advancement  of  the  cause  by  public  meetings,  unless  they 
can  have  the  presence  and  listen  to  the  voice  of  some  individual 
from  abroad  who  has  made  himself  quite  distinguished  as  an 
advocate  of  the  cause.  Social  meetings,  where  the  farmer 
and  mechanic,  the  merchant  and  the  professional  man,  may 
each  in  turn  express  his  views  on  the  subject,  and  detail  the 
results  of  his  own  personal  experience  and  observation,  are,  in 
my  opinion,  among  the  most  efficient  means  of  promoting  the 
spread  and  permanency  of  the  principles  and  practice  we 
recommend. 

Nor  are  the  modes  I  have  recommended  the  only  ones 
by  which  you  may  present  the  important  truths  elicited  by  the 
temperance  reformation  to  the  minds  of  your  fellow-citizens 
who  have  not  yet  heartily  embraced  the  cause.  The  general 
distribution  of  temperance  publications  would,  I  am  well  per- 
suaded, accomplish  an  amount  of  good  in  almost  any  part  of 
our  great  field  of  labor  which  would  a  thousand  times  pay  the 
expense  of  their  purchase.  Of  these  we  have  now  a  great 
variety ;  so  that  whoever  shall  attempt  the  diffusion  of  tem- 
perance truth  through  that  instrumentality  may  find  some- 
thing adapted  to  the  condition  of  any  and  every  part  of  the 
country.  The  Temperance  Tales,  from  the  pen  of  L.  M. 
Sargent,  Esq.,  have,  with  the  blessing  of  God,  effected  the 
10 


110  MEANS    FOR   REMOVING 

reformation  of  thousands.  In  my  rambles  through  New  Eng- 
land, in  connection  with  this  subject,  I  frequently  find  individ- 
uals whose  first  impressions  favorable  to  the  temperance  cause 
date  from  the  perusal  of  one  of  those  little  messengers  of 
mercy.  I  much  doubt  whether  it  be  possible  for  any  individual 
not  utterly  destitute  of  sensibility,  and  hopelessly  corrupted  by 
a  long,  unbroken  course  of  sin,  to  read  "  My  Mother's  Gold 
Ring,"  or  "John  Hodges,  the  Blacksmith,"  and  not  have 
kindled  in  his  breast  a  deep  feeling  of  hatred  against  the  vile 
system  we  are  laboring  to  annihilate.  The  "  Temperance  Man- 
ual," by  Dr.  Edwards,  the  writings  of  T.  S.  Arthur,  and  a  prize 
essay  by  Rev.  Mr.  Ketchell,  are  valuable  contributions  to  our 
temperance  literature.  But,  I  fancy  some  one  may  reply,  the 
purchase  of  books,  tracts,  &c.,  for  distribution,  would  involve 
expense  which  we  can  ill  afford.  Sir,  can  you  better  afford  to 
pay  your  money  to  repair  the  mischief  intemperance  may 
produce  than  to  pay  it  for  the  removal  of  the  evil  ?  If  citizens 
will  pay  nothing  for  the  support  of  a  fire  department  in  our 
large  villages  and  cities,  they  will  occasionally  have  to  foot 
the  bill  for  a  new  house.  For  one,  I  had  much  rather  be 
taxed  annually  twenty-five  per  cent,  on  all  my  earnings,  to 
secure  the  annihilation  of  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks, 
than  that  my  children  should  be  exposed  to  its  influences,  and 
my  purse  be  made  to  bleed  annually  for  the  support  of  its 
miserable  victims.  The  periodical  press,  devoted  to  the 
advocacy  of  temperance  principles,  should  receive  a  cordial 
and  steady  support  from  all  who  would  secure  the  prosperity 
of  the  enterprise.  In  concluding  my  remarks  on  this  branch 
of  our  subject,  let  me  earnestly  exhort  those  before  me  to 
watch  for  occasions  of  doing  good  by  the  utterance  of  truth  in 
conversation.  Such  an  occasion  may  present  itself  in  a  pub- 
lic conveyance,  in  the  social  circle,  in  the  lyceum  hall,  or  the 
Christian  conference. 

We  have  an  old  proverb,  "  Where  there  is  a  will,  there  is  a 
way  ;"  and  its  truth  was  never  more  manifest  than  in  reference 
to  the  temperance  cause.  Let  there  be  in  the  heart  of  the 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  Ill 

individual  a  sincere  desire  to  contribute  what  he  or  she  may  to 
mould  and  correct  the  opinions  of  others  on  this  subject,  and 
occasion  will  not  be  wanting. 

Mr.  President,  I  beg  you,  and  your  fellow-citizens  here,  to 
give  no  place  in  your  minds  to  the  false  notion  that  the  time 
for  associated  efforts  has  passed.  The  formation  of  tem- 
perance societies  where  none  have  been  organized,  and  the 
preservation  and  enlargement  of  those  which  do  exist,  are,  at 
the  present  moment,  as  it  seems  to  me,  absolutely  indispensa- 
ble. We  need  them  to  add  force  to  individual  example.  The 
united  testimony  of  hundreds  together,  uttered  through  a 
resolution  or  public  address,  has  attached  to  it  a  degree  of 
respect  which  the  separate  testimony  of  the  individuals  could 
not  command.  I  will  not  detain  you  with  a  labored  argument  in 
favor  of  preserving  the  integrity  of  our  temperance  organiza- 
tions, but  content  myself  with  expressing  the  opinion  that 
whatever  other  instrumentalities  we  may  employ  for  the 
advancement  of  the  cause,  we  shall  fail  of  securing  our 
object  if  we  do  not  avail  ourselves  of  the  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  the  principle  of  association.  The  pledge  of  total 
abstinence  is  still  our  sheet  anchor ;  and  may  the  day  be  distant 
when  the  friends  of  temperance  shall  abandon  its  employment. 

If,  sir,  the  good  people  of  Bridgeport  would  reform  such  of 
their  fellow-citizens  as  have  become  habitually  intemperate, 
whose  physical  constitutions  are  suffering  from  infirmities  and 
diseases  produced  by  alcohol,  they  must  adopt  with  them  the 
Washingtonian  method.  You  must  consent  to  make  considera- 
ble sacrifices  for  their  sakes.  The  manifestation  of  a  deep 
interest  in  their  welfare  —  frequent  visits  —  liberal  aid  to  their 
families  —  kind  exhortation,  urged  with  great  importunity,  to 
take  the  pledge  and  keep  it — a  separation,  so  far  as  is  practica- 
ble, from  old  and  vicious  associates,  and  the  removal  from  their 
vicinity  of  the  sources  of  temptation,  where  that  desirable 
object  may  be  effected  ;  —  these  are  the  means  on  which  you 
must  rely  for  the  rescue  of  the  wretched  drunkard  from  the 
doom  which  otherwise  awaits  him.  Nor  should  your  interest 


112  MEANS    FOR    REMOVING 

in  or  care  of  sucn  an  individual  cease  when  you  have  obtained 
his  name  to  the  pledge.  It  may  be  months  before  he  will  re- 
cover his  native  resolution  and  bodily  health,  and  during  all  that 
period  he  must  be  watched  over  with  great  solicitude.  Should 
he  fall,  fly  to  his  rescue  at  once,,  and  give  him  the  assurance 
that  he  is  not  to  be  abandoned  and  given  up  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  rum-seller. 

Something  more  must  be  done,  however,  besides  the  diligent 
employment  of  the  means  I  have  recommended,  before  this 
city,  or  any  section  of  our  country,  can  be  effectually  rid  of 
the  curse  of  drunkenness.  The  traffic  in  intoxicating  liquors 
must  be  prohibited  by  law,  and  that  law  must  be  sternly  and 
steadily  enforced.  The  penalty  of  the  law  must  be  something 
more  than  a  paltry  fine  of  ten  or  twenty  dollars.  It  should 
bear  some  proportion  to  the  magnitude  of  the  offence.  There 
are  few  offences  committed  against  the  peace,  safety,  and  best 
interests  of  society,  which,  in  my  opinion,  are  of  a  more  grave 
nature,  or  demand  a  more  stern  penalty,  than  that  of  supplying 
to  reckless  men  the  means  of  intoxication.  It  should  be  pun- 
ished more  severely  than  assault  and  battery,  theft,  resistance 
to  the  laws,  participation  in  riots,  wanton  destruction  of  prop- 
erty, &c.,  for  it  produces  all  these  offences,  or  nine  tenths  of 
them.  All  other  causes  put  together  do  not  produce  so  much 
misery  and  disorder  in  this  city  as  the  sale  and  use  of  intox- 
icating drinks.  The  traffic,  so  far  as  concerns  the  furnishing 
of  it  to  men  as  a  beverage,  is  not  called  for  by  any  necessity 
of  man  or  society ;  and,  as  it  is  productive  of  incalculable 
mischief,  it  should  be  at  once  and  forever  prohibited.  This 
is  the  instrumentality  on  which  we  must  ultimately  rely  for 
removing  the  curse  of  drunkenness  from  the  world.  To  its 
employment,  a  variety  of  objections  have  been  urged,  some 
of  which  I  will  briefly  consider.  One  of  the  most  common  is 
expressed  in  language  like  this :  "  You  cannot  control  the 
appetites  of  men  by  law,  and  it  is  therefore  idle  to  attempt  it." 
We  do  not  propose  to  attempt  it.  We  propose  to  control 
traffic  by  law  ;  and  surely  that  is  not  a  new  thing  under  the 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  113 

sun.  More  than  half  the  laws  in  our  statute-book  were 
enacted  for  the  regulation  of  trade  —  of  traffic  between  man 
and  man.  How  the  notion  got  into  the  heads  of  men  Aat 
the  business  of  selling  rum  should  be  an  exception  to  that 
general  rule  which  applies  to  all  forms  of  traffic  from  which 
fraud  or  mischief  may  be  anticipated,  I  cannot  tell.  But  the 
objector  may  reply,  that  the  law,  in  relation  to  other  articles 
of  commerce,  does  not  attempt  to  prohibit  their  sale,  but  merely 
to  regulate  it.  Well,  sir,  what  is  meant  by  regulation  ? 
I  suppose  that  term  is  used  to  signify  such  a  control  of  the 
traffic  in  any  particular  article  as  shall  secure  the  community 
against  injurious  results.  Restrictions  are  put  on  the  trade  in 
gunpowder  just  so  far  as  is  supposed  to  be  necessary  to  pro- 
tect community  from  the  danger  of  explosions,  which  might 
destroy  life  and  property.  Any  regulation  which  falls  short 
of  that  object  must  be  of  little  avail.  Well,  sir,  I  shallbe 
entirely  content  with  such  a  regulation  of  the  traffic  in  spiritu- 
ous liquors.  Such  a  regulation  will  allow  alcoholic  liquors  to  be 
furnished  for  use  in  the  arts,  and  as  a  medicinal  agent,  and 
sternly  forbid  any  other  form  of  traffic  in  those  articles.  Let 
such  a  law  as  that  be  passed,  and  properly  enforced,  and  more 
good  would  result  therefrom,  to  Connecticut,  than  from  all 
laws  enacted  in  the  state  for  the  last  twenty  years.  Traffic 
in  those  articles,  to  be  employed  as  an  intoxicating  stimulant 
for  men  in  health,  can  never  be  regulated,  for  all  such  traffic 
is,  in  its  very  nature,  an  irregularity,  a  nuisance,  and  a  curse 
to  community. 

But  methinks  I  hear  some  one  inquire,  "  Why  are  you  not 
willing  to  rely  for  the  reformation  of  the  rum-seller  on  kind 
words  and  friendly  exhortations,  on  appeals  to  his  reason  and 
his  conscience,  when  you  see  those  instrumentalities  so  effec- 
tive in  the  case  of  the  drunkard  ?  "  I  have  frequently  had 
that  question  put  to  me,  and  sometimes,  sir,  there  has  been 
added  this  precious  piece  of  logic  :  "  The  rum-seller  is  of  the 
same  flesh  and  blood  as  the  victim  of  his  traffic  :  they  have  a 
nature  in  common,  like  passions,  and  like  sympathies ;  and  why, 
-  10* 


114  MEANS   FOR   REMOVING 

then,  would  you  treat  one  with  great  tenderness,  and  the  other 
with  great  severity  ?  "  The  answer  to  all  that  is  a  very  plain 
one.  Their  situation  and  circumstances  are  entirely  dissim- 
ilar. Consider  their  condition  for  a  moment.  The  drunkard 
has,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  lost  property,  health,  friends,  and, 
worst  of  all,  his  own  self-respect  and  confidence  in  himself. 
Law  can  do  him  no  good.  It  will  not  restore  his  lost  property, 
health,  friends,  or  self-confidence.  He  is  in  a  condition  that 
demands  our  sympathy,  for,  in  the  face  of  good  resolutions, 
often  formed,  and  as  often  broKen,  he  is  dragged  downward 
by  the  terrible  power  of  an  artificial  appetite,  which  he  has 
not  now  the  resolution  to  master.  Speak  to  him  kindly  on  the 
subject,  and  tender  to  him  the  warm  spfnpathies  of  your  heart, 
and  express  to  him  your  readiness  to  assist  him  in  any  effort 
he  may  make  to  escape  from  the  difficulties  which  surround 
him,  and,  in  a  vast  majority  of  cases,  -your  efforts  will  not  be 
in  vaiu.  Secure  his  confidence  by,  acts  of  kindness,  and  you 
may  often  lead  him  whithersoever  you  please.  Let  us  now 
look  at  the  condition  of  the  rum-seller.  Does  he  feel  the  need 
of  sympathy,  or  that  he  is  entitled  to  it  ?  He  is  not,  like  the 
drunkard,  destitute  of  money,  friends,  or  selfrconfidenoe.  He 
is  the  keeper,  of  a  public  house,  a  splendid  liquor  saloon,  or  a 
dram-shop.  In  either  case,  he  has  money,  for  the  tipplers  and 
drunkards  of  the  community  pour  into  his  till  a  shower  of 
sixpences.  He  has  scores, of  friends  around  him,  such  as  they 
are,  and  they  have  always  .for  him  a  word  of  cheer  and 
encouragement.  He  is  assured  by  them  that  they  will  stand 
by  him  to  the  last,  &c.,  &c.  There  are  always  those  around 
his  establishment  who  are  ready  to  do  his  bidding,  whether  it 
be  to  draw  water,  saw  wood,  or  cleanse  his  stable.  Oftentimes 
our  rum-seller  drives  the  fastest  horse  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  when  he  wishes  to  take  a  ride,  some  of  his  satellites  are 
ready  to  harness  the  horse  to  the  carriage  and  bring  him  to  the 
door.  His  table,  nine  times  in  ten,  is  better  furnished  than 
the  tables  of  his  fellow-citizens,  for  his  cash  is  easily  obtained, 
and  he  thinks  he  can  afford  to  live  well.  The  world,  he  says, 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  115 

owes  him  a  living,  and  he  intends  to  have  it.  Such  is  the 
condition  of  a  majority  of  our  rum-sellers.  Now,  sir,  is  he  in 
a  condition  to  be  favorably  influenced  by  the  tender  of  your 
sympathies  ?  Why,  he  does  not  consider  himself  an  object  of 
sympathy,  and  should  you  approach  him  with  a  manifestation 
of  sympathetic  regard,  he  will  tell  you  so.  He  will  slap  his 
well-lined  pocket,  and  hint  to  you,  without  a  great  show  of 
delicacy,  that  he  can  take  care  of  himself.  There  is  not  that 
want  of  self-confidence  which  we  found  in  the  case  of  the 
poor  drunkard.  O,  no !  He  fancies  that  he  is  the  man  of 
the  country,  and  can  walk  over  the  laws  of  God  and  man  — 
over  your  rights,  my  interests,  and  the  hearts  that  are  breaking 
around  him,  rough  shod.  Hint  to  him  that,  by  his  traffic,  he 
is  producing  indescribable  mischief  and  misery  around  him, 
and  he  will  tell  you  to  mind  your  own  business,  and  he  will 
take  care  of  his.  Mr.  President,  to  talk  about  bringing  men 
thus  situated  to  abandon  a  wicked  but  lucrative  business  by 
kind  words  and  sympathetic  appeals,  is  uttering  nonsense,  if 
there  be  such  a  thing  on  earth.  The  rum-sellers  of  1849  will 
never  be  led  to  abandon  the  infamous  business  in  which  they 
are  engaged,  except  by  an  appeal  to  their  fears  —  fear  of 
pecuniary  loss,  or  the  loss  of  their  liberty,  or  fear  of  final 
and  terrible  retribution  when  death  shall  overtake  them,  and 
they  shall  be  brought  before  that  tribunal  from  whose  righteous 
awards  they  can  have  no  hope  of  escaping  through  the  false 
testimony  of  those  their  traffic  has  ruined. 

The  Rev.  Thomas  P.  Hunt,  one  of  the  most  able  and 
eloquent  of  our  temperance  advocates,  in  a  discourse  delivered 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  a  few  years  since,  uttered  the  following 
language,  in  the  most  impressive  tone  and  manner  possible :  — 

"  Mr.  President,  when  I  can  make  an  individual  engaged  in 
this  murderous  and  infamous  business  see  and  feel  that  if  there 
is  a  being  on  earth  who  deserves  from  man  a  halter,  and  from 
God  a  hell,  it  is  a  rum-seller,  then,  sir,  I  have  some  hope  of 
his  abandoning  the  business  without  legal  coercion,  and  I  have 
no  hope  until  then." 


116  MEANS    FOR    REMOVING 

The  utterance  of  that  sentiment  is  all  the  evidence  I  wanl 
that  the  reverend  gentleman  understood  the  character  of  the 
men  of  whom  he  was  speaking.  Pearls  should  not  be  cast  before 
animals  which  will  trample  them  under  their  feet.  With  what 
words  shall  I  go  to  a  rum-seller  of  1849  ?  The  character  and 
influence  of  his  traffic  have  been  now  subjects  of  earnest  and 
public  discussion  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  .  The 
elements  of  society  all  around  him  have  been  stirred  in  rela- 
tion to  the  subject.  He  is  not,  he  cannot  be,  a  stranger  to  that 
fact.  He  knows,  every  man  of  them  knows,  what  the  mass 
of  good  men  around  them  think  of  their  business.  "  Horrible 
effects  of  Intemperance  !  "  "  Another  Rum  Tragedy  ! "  and 
the  like,  in  staring  capitals,  meet  their  eyes,  every  week,  as 
they  run  them  over  the  columns  of  our  newspapers ;  and  the 
detail  answers  to  the  character  of  the  heading.  A  man  with 
a  bottle  of  rum  in  his  pocket,  and  a  part  of  its  contents  in  his 
stomach,  has  taken  a  nap  on  the  track  of  some  one  of  our 
railroads,  and  waked  up  in  eternity  ;  or  perhaps  an  individual 
transformed  to  a  demon  by  strong  drink,  has  buried  the  blade 
of  a  knife  in  the  bosom  of  her  whom,  at  the  altar,  before  God 
and  man,  he  swore  to  love,  protect,  and  cherish.  That  knife, 
it  may  be,  pierced  a  heart  which  glowed  to  the  last  throb  with 
an  undying  love  for  the  wretched  being  who  has  stilled  its 
pulsations  forever.  The  rum-seller  reads,  from  time  to  time, 
the  details  of  such  horrible  tragedies,  produced  by  intoxicating 
drinks  ;  and  how  does  it  affect  him  ?  Does  it  soften  his  heart, 
and  cause  him  to  relent  ?  No,  sir,  nothing  of  the  sort.  He 
lays  down  the  paper  on  one  end  of  the  counter,  walks  straight 
to  the  other,  and,  with  an  untrembling  hand,  fills  up  the  cup 
of  poison  for  another  victim.  Sir,  such  men  should  be  re- 
strained by  law.  For  our  wise  legislators  to  busy  themselves 
in  the  enactment  of  statutes  for  the  protection  of  pigeon  bees 
and  oyster  beds,  for  the  "  pounding  "  of  vicious  cattle,  the 
muzzling  of  dogs,  &c.,  while  no  efficient  laws  are  passed  to 
protect  the  innocent  sufferers  from  this  infernal  traffic,  is  tend- 
ing to  bring  law  into  contempt.  Sir,  legislators  who  can,  in 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE-  117 

1849,  make  such  an  exhibition  of  their  folly  and  weakness, 
should  be  "  recommitted  "  to  the  district  school. 

But,  Mr.  President,  there  is  another  mistake,  which  some 
men  make  in  relation  to  the  subject  now  under  consideration, 
which  should  be  corrected  as  soon  as  practicable,  because  it 
tends  materially  to  weaken  the  faith  of  many  in  the  power  of 
legal  measures  to  cut  off  the  sources  of  drunkenness.  They 
conceive  that  the  general  principles  which  fix  the  relation  of 
demand  and  supply  are  applicable  to  intoxicating  liquors,  as 
well  as  other  articles  of  commerce.  Sir,  that  is  a  mistake. 
In  most  cases,  demand  precedes  supply.  When  you  and  I 
made  our  debut  into  this  breathing  world,  we  brought  with  us 
certain  demands.  Certain  necessities  of  our  animal  life  called 
for  a  prompt  supply.  Among  these  were  the  demands  for 
nutriment,  clothing,  and,  if  those  memorable  events  occurred 
during  the  winter  months,  for  warmth  also.  Food,  clothing, 
and  fuel  are  all,  therefore,  necessities  of  our  animal  life,  in 
this  climate.  As  we  advanced  in  years,  the  development  of 
our  bodies,  intellects,  and  social  affections  created  additional 
demands,  and  these  called  for  their  appropriate  supplies. 
Now,  in  all  cases  where  the  demand  precedes  supply,  it  will 
be  found  impossible  to  prevent  the  latter  to  any  great  extent, 
and  for  any  considerable  period  of  time.  The  demands  of 
our  animal,  intellectual,  and  social  nature  will  continue  to 
clamor  until  supply  comes.  But,  sir,  I  should  like  to  have 
some  of  our  philosophers  inform  us  at  what  period  in  the  life 
of  an  individual  a  demand  for  intoxicating  stimulants  is  self- 
created,  or  grows  out  of  the  progressive  development  of  our 
animal  organs,  powers,  and  faculties.  The  demand  which 
we  find  in  many  human  constitutions  for  tobacco,  opium, 
alcoholic  liquors,  and  other  intoxicating  agents,  is  not  a  natural 
one,  which  must  and  will  exist  in  each  successive  generation, 
do  what  we  may  ;  nor  does  it  necessarily  spring  up  from  the 
progressive  civilization  or  improvement  of  our  race.  Their 
consumption  certainly  is  not  necessary  to  the  highest  con- 
ceivable state  of  society.  Whence,  then,  comes  this  demand 


118  MEANS   FOR   REMOVING 

for  intoxicating  liquids  ?  It  is  created  by  a  previous  supply. 
The  vile  system  which  I  am  urging  you  to  annihilate,  to 
sweep  from  the  face  of  the  earth  it  has  too  long  cursed,  first 
introduces  alcoholic  stimulants  to  the  stomachs  of  our  healthy 
children,  through  the  instrumentality  of  custom  or  fashion,  or 
at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  some  one  who  has  become  a  slave 
to  it,  and  wishes  to  secure  companionship  in  his  folly.  Again 
and  again  is  this  urging  process  repeated,  and  the  article  thus 
gets  an  opportunity  to  produce  its  legitimate  effect  on  the 
stomach.  An  appetite  is  at  length  created ;  and  now  comes  your 
demand  for  a  further  supply.  Supply  here  precedes  demand, 
and  always  must,  in  the  case  of  every  healthy  son  and  daugh- 
ter of  Adam.  The  truth  may  be  briefly  stated  thus :  this 
system,  or  means  of  supply,  first  creates  a  demand  which  did 
not  exist  in  the  constitution  of  the  man,  and  then  pleads  the 
existence  of  that  demand  as  a  reason  for  its  own  continued 
existence.  There  is  in  the  constitutions  of  our  children  no 
demand  for  intoxicating  compounds;  and,  sir,  let  us,  so  long  as 
God  shall  give  us  power,  stand  between  them  and  those  who 
would  create  such  a  demand.  Sir,  we  must  cut  off  the  sources 
of  supply. 

A  common  objection  against  the  employment  of  legal 
measures  to  aid  us  in  removing  the  scourge  of  intemperance, 
is  expressed  in  language  like  this  :  "  You  cannot  drive  men," 
"  You  may  persuade  them,  but  you  cannot  drive  them,"  &c., 
&c.  I  marvel  greatly  that  men  can  allow  themselves  to  employ 
language  so  thoughtlessly  in  relation  to  a  question  of  so  much  im- 
portance as  the  one  we  are  considering.  Neither  common  sense 
nor  common  observation  warrants  the  use  of  such  language. 
"  Men  cannot  be  driven !  "  Did  those  who  utter  such  lan- 
guage ever  see  men  run  out  of  a  burning  house,  or  seek 
shelter  from  the  pelting  storm  by  hastening  into  a  house  ?  I 
wonder  if  men  who  talk  thus  would  prove  the  truth  of  their 
words  by  meeting  full  in  the  teeth  a  mad  dog,  who,  with  foam- 
ing mouth,  was  hurrying  along  the  street.  Their  good  sense 
would,  I  think,  prove  too  hard  for  their  philosophy.  Sir,  man, 


THE   CURSE   OF    INTEMPERANCE.  119 

like  other  animals,  is  subject  to  the  influence  of  fear.  Let 
objects  of  terror  approach  him,  and  he  will  fly  with  all  the 
speed  he  can  command  from  the  threatened  danger.  Some 
of  our  rum-sellers  have  proved  the  truth  of  that  sentiment, 
within  a  few  months  past ;  for  when  the  sheriff  has  been  seen 
by  them  approaching  their  premises,  they  have  been  seized, 
with  a  sudden  panic,  and  given,  as  it  is  sometimes  expressed, 
leg  bail  for  security.  The  sheriff  has  so  little  power  of  attrac- 
tion that  they  have  swung  out  of  their  accustomed  orbit  as  he 
approached  it,  and  their  centrifugal  force  has  astonished 
beholders,  "  Men  cannot  be  driven  !  "  I  much  wonder  if 
those  who  use  such  language  ever  heard  of  the  rout  of  armies. 
Did  they  ever  read  of  the  flight  of  the  French  from  Russia  ? 
Sir,  I  should  not  like  to  confess  myself  altogether  a  coward, 
and  yet  I  have  repeatedly  been  driven  in  the  course  of  my 
life ;  and,  at  other  times,  I  have  made  others  quicken  their 
pace  to  escape  from  the  vicinity  of  such  objects  of  terror  as  I 
had  mischievously  placed  in  their  path.  Sir,  I  will  not  waste 
more  words  on  such  miserable  nonsense  as  is  contained  in  the 
language  I  have  quoted.  Those  engaged  in  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  liquors  will  not  long  expose  themselves  to  the 
risk  of  being  compelled  to  accompany  the  wretched  victims 
of  their  cupidity  to  the  jail,  the  house  of  correction,  or  the 
state  prison.  Let  the  statute-book  declare  their  traffic  what  it 
really  is,  a  crime,  and  affix  to  it  a  penalty  proportionate  to  its 
enormity  and  the  extent  of  the  mischief  it  inflicts  on  society, 
and  let  there  be  manifested  by  the  sober,  intelligent,  and  moral 
portion  of  the  community  a  fixed  and  manly  determination  to 
see  that  law  respected,  and  the  day  of  jubilee  is  at  hand. 

But  I  fancy  I  hear  some  one  reply,  "  If  you  get  such  a 
law,  you  will  not  enforce  it."  Well,  sir,  should  that  prove  to 
be  true,  we  shall  be  indebted  for  so  disastrous  a  result  to  such 
miserable  croakers  and  cowardly  poltroons  as  yourself.  What 
is  a  republican  government  good  for,  if  the  will  of  an  immense 
majority  of  its  citizens,  expressed  in  a  statute  law,  is  not  to  be 
respected  ?  That  everlasting  cry  of,  "  You  cannot  enforce 


120  MEANS   FOR   REMOVING 

it,"  uttered  by  political  jugglers,  "  pigeon -livered  "  cowards, 
and  certain  professional  gentlemen,  who  will  consent  to  lie  by 
the  hour  for  a  fee,  are  doing  more  to  perpetuate  the  curse  of 
the  rum  traffic  in  community  than  the  influence  of  all  the 
rum-sellers,  tipplers,  and  topers  in  the  land.  I  do  not  know 
but  I  have  sinned  in  so  doing,  but,  sir,  I  have  a  thousand  times 
wished  that  such  miserable  croakers  could,  for  one  hour, 
change  places  with  some  poor  drunkard's  wife,  whose  husband 
is  sent  home  nightly,  from  the  grog-shop,  to  abuse  her  help- 
less little  ones,  and  to  finish  his  evening's  exercises  by  dragging 
her  around  the  apartment  by  the  hair  of  her  head.  If  it  were 
necessary  to  the  success  of  such  an  experiment,  and  the 
enlightening  of  their  understanding,  I  could  wish  that,  on  such 
an  occasion,  the  operator  might  not  be  incommoded  by  the 
shortness  of  their  hair.  I  would  wish  them  the  beautiful,  flow- 
ing locks  of  an  Absalom. 

Carefully  observe  the  conduct  of  those  who  are  continually 
whining  out,  "  You  cannot  enforce  the  law,"  and,  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten,  your  observation  will  convince  you  that  they,  from 
their  souls,  desire  the  very  failure  they  predict.  Doubtless 
there  are  those  who  honestly  believe  what  they  utter  when 
they  use  such  language,  while  they  would  rejoice  to  see  the 
traffic  come  to  a  perpetual  end  ;  but,  in  my  opinion,  their  pro- 
portion to  the  mass  of  croakers  is  as  a  thimble-full  of  the  real 
California  to  an  acre  of  sand.  In  many  towns  in  the  state  of 
Massachusetts,  and  in  some  of  the  other  New  England  states, 
the  law  has  leen,  and  still  is,  enforced,  and  the  traffic  has 
come  to  an  end,  within  the  limits  of  these  towns,  to  the  great 
joy  of  hundreds,  who  have  been  severe  sufferers  from  its  con- 
tinuance. What  has  been  done  in  a  part  of  our  territory  can 
be  done  in  the  remainder  of  it,  when  the  people  become 
thoroughly  awakened  to  a  sense  of  their  danger  and  their  duty. 
Under  a  republican  government,  the  very  existence  of  which 
implies  a  respect  for  the  will  of  a  majority,  any  man  should 
be  ashamed  to  say  "  it  cannot  be  enforced,"  in  relation  to  a 
righteous,  constitutional  law,  intended  to  rid  community  of  an 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  121 

acknowledged  and  wide-spread  evil.  Others  object  to  the 
employment  of  legal  measures  for  the  suppression  of  the  rum 
traffic,  on  the  ground  that  we  shall,  by  attempting  it,  lessen 
the  power  of  other  instrumentalities,  and  thus  hinder  the 
progress  of  the  cause,  instead  of  promoting  it.  This  class  of 
objectors  embraces  many  sincere  friends  of  temperance,  of 
whose  opinions  and  sentiments  I  cannot  speak  but  in  terms 
of  respect.  I  think  their  fears  are  groundless,  and  exhort 
all  such  to  stand  at  their  posts  firmly — to  be  diligent  in 
the  employment  of  other  instrumentalities  —  and  allow  those 
who  believe  legal  restraint  to  be  necessary,  to  act  in  accordance 
with  their  convictions,  without  having  the  difficulties  in  their 
way  increased  by  the  objections  of  brethren. 

Some  persons  say  to  us,  "  You  are  getting  on  very  well  in 
your  enterprise  ;  you  have  accomplished  a  vast  deal  of  good  ;" 
and  they  ask,  "  Why  are  you  not  satisfied  with  doing  well  ?  " 
I  answer,  because  we  wish  to  do  better.  We  do  not  wish  to 
be  employed  through  life  in  pulling  men  out  of  the  fire,  and 
all  the  while  be  silent  spectators  of  the  efforts  of  others  who 
are  continually  pushing  them  in.  We  are  not  content  to  be 
busied,  day  after  day,  in  putting  up  the  fence  on  one  side  of 
the  field,  while  mischievous  rogues  are  as  busily  engaged,  on 
the  other  side,  in  pulling  it  down. 

Mr.  President,  while  laboring  to  present  to  my  fellow-citizens 
of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  a  few  years  since,  the  hardship 
of  our  present  position,  and  the  necessity  of  striking  a  blow  at 
the  causes  of  intemperance,  while  laboring  to  repair  the  mis- 
chief inflicted  by  it,  I  blundered  into  the  use  of  the  following 
illustration  :  "  You  know,  fellow-citizens,"  said  I,  "  that,  in  a 
bowling  alley,  when  being  employed  for  its  usual  purposes, 
there  are  two  parties  —  one  who  make  it  their  business  to  bowl 
down  the  pins,  while  the  other  picks  them  up  and  arranges 
them  again  on  the  alley.  While  the  boy  is  picking  up  the 
pins,  you  will  often  hear  the  other  party  uttering  the  language 
of  encouragement  and  commendation  — '  That  is  right,  my  fine 
fellow.'  '  Pick  them  up,  my  brave  boy,'  &c. ;  and  occasionally 
11 


122  MEANS    FOR    REMOVING 

they  will  toss  him  a  penny  or  two  to  encourage  him  to  further 
efforts.  What  does  all  this  mean  ?  Do  they  admire  the 
arrangement  of  the  pins,  and  will  they  allow  them  to  stand 
thus  ?  By  no  means.  They  have  bowled  them  down  re- 
peatedly, and  intend  to  bowl  them  down  again.  They  think 
they  secure  to  themselves  pleasure  and  profit  by  the  exercise ; 
and  when  their  little  servant  has  gotten  them  nicely  arranged, 
you  will  hear  them  exclaim, '  There,  now,  just  stand  out  of 
the  way,  my  lad,'  and  down  comes  the  ball,  thundering  along 
the  alley,  and  away  go  your  pins  again,  knocked  helter-skelter 
all  about  the  apartment.  '  There,  my  fine  fellow,  pick  them 
up  again,'  &c.,  &c.,  until  they  are  quite  satisfied  with  their 
sport.  Thus,"  said  I,  "  it  is  with  the  rum-sellers  and  their 
servants,  the  temperance  men.  While  we  are  content  to 
pursue  the  course  recommended  by  some,  and  confine  our 
efforts  to  the  lifting  up  of  those  whom  their  accursed  traffic 
has  bowled  down,  even  the  rum-sellers  will  deign  to  pay  us 
a  compliment.  '  There,  now,'  say  they, c  is  true  temperance. 
We  do  not  believe  in  this  attempt  \p  drive  people  into  tem- 
perance ;  but  this,  this  is  true  temperance.  No  man  can 
reasonably  say  one  word  against  such  efforts  as  these.  Such 
labors  will  do  good  !  "  All  this  I  have  heard  from  the  lips  of 
rum-sellers,  and,  in  some  instances,  I  have  known  them  to 
contribute  to  societies  who  would  confine  themselves  exclu- 
sively to  reformatory  efforts.  Their  words  of  commendation 
sounded  to  me  amazingly  like, '  Pick  up  the  pins  there,  my  fine 
fellow ! '  But,  sir,  when  we  have  lifted  up  from  the  cold 
earth  our  unfortunate  brother,  and  taken  him  to  a  place  of 
safety  ;  when  we  have  put  clean  clothes  upon  him,  and,  with 
kind  words,  have  induced  him  to  sign  the  pledge  ;  when  we 
have  restored  him  to  his  family,  a  sober  man,  and  seen  tears 
of  gratitude  stealing  down  the  cheeks  of  his  wife  and  his  little 
ones ;  ay,  after  we  have. heard  the  song  of  joy  ascend  from 
that  home  which  was  late  the  abode  of  wretchedness,  —  what 
else,  sir,  have  we  seen  ?  We  have  seen  that  poor  man  seduced 
from  the  path  of  safety  and  peace,  and  reeling  along  the 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  123 

street,  or  prostrate  in  the  ditch,  himself  again  disgraced,  the 
hopes  of  his  family  blasted,  and  the  hearts  of  those  who 
had  toiled  for  his  rescue  well  nigh  discouraged,  while  they 
have  been  subjected  to  further  trial  and  sacrifices  for  his  sake. 
Whence,  sir,  came  the  accursed  influence  that  tumbled  our 
partially  reformed  friend  into  the  ditch  again  ?  It  came  from 
the  shops  and  bars  of  those  fiends  in  human  form,  who,  but  last 
week,  were  hypocritically  commending  the  efforts  of  those 
who  had  labored  for  his  rescue.  They  it  was,  who,  by  their 
vile  traffic,  have  bowled  him  down  ;  and  some  of  them,  sir, 
will  tell  the  story  of  his  relapse  with  evident  glee. 

Mr.  President,  I  will  go  as  far  as  justice  to  my  family  will 
allow  in  aiding  my  brethren  to  lift  up  our  unfortunate  fellow- 
men  from  the  degradation  to  which  they  have  been  reduced  by 
the  influence  of  a  depraved  appetite  and  this  vile  traffic.  I 
have,  in  my  time,  done  something  in  that  line  of  business. 
My  roof  has  sheltered  them,  and  from  my  table  they  have  fed 
for  months,  when  I  hardly  knew  where  I  was  to  obtain  the 
money  with  which  to  purchase  my  next  barrel  of  flour ;  and  I 
have  been  richly  rewarded  for  my  labor.  Funds  thus  invested 
pay  into  the  soul  a  larger  per  cent,  than  railroad  or  bank  stock. 
1  repeat,  sir,  I  have  done  this,  and,  according  to  my  ability,  I 
am  ready  to  join  my  fellow-citizens  in  further  efforts  to 'rescue 
the  fallen  ;  but  I  ask  them,  in  turn,  to  join  me  in  saying,  through 
the  laws  of  the  land,  to  the  unprincipled  villains  who  would 
bowl  them  down  to  the  ditch  again,  with  the  voice  of  an  earth- 
quake, if  it  were  possible,  "  Cease  your  vile  work  !  Roll 
again  at  your  peril  !  " 

Sir,  there  are  those  who  are  continually  exhorting  us  to  the 
exercise  of  patience  and  forbearance,  and  dissuading  from  the 
employment  of  more  rigorous  measures  ;  but  I  have  uniformly 
found,  on  inquiring,  that  they  are  not  of  those  who  are  active- 
ly engaged  in  the  work  of  reform.  Men  who  have  toiled  for 
years  in  the  enterprise,  and  who  have  been  continually  called 
upon  to  make  sacrifices  for  its  advancement,  are  a  little  in 
haste  to  see  the  vile  system  with  which  they  are  warring  come 


124  MEANS    FOR   REMOVING 

to  an  end.  It  is  easy  for  men  who  are  too  lazy  and  selfish  to 
toil  for  the  good  of  others,  and  who  have  not  sensibility  enough 
to  be  distressed  at  the  spectacle  of  human  misery,  to  preach 
patience  to  reformers.  Men  who  feel,  and  are  willing  to  work, 
are  generally  in  a  hurry  to  relieve  suffering,  and  cut  off  the 
sources  of  future  mischief. 

The  situation  of  temperance  reformers  is  peculiarly  trying, 
for  men  who  can  sympathize  with  the  suffering,  and  feel  indig- 
nation against  wrong  and  injustice.  I  will  try  to  make  that 
truth  more  obvious  by  the  employment  of  a  homely  illustration* 
Standing  on  the  bank  of  a  river,  we  see  our  fellow-men,  one 
after  another,  hurried  along  by  the  current  to  the  cataract 
below.  They  plunge  down,  and  we  see  them  no  more.  Tl^e 
boiling  vortex  has  swallowed  them  up.  We  cannot  stand  idle 
spectators  of  such  a  scene,  and  we  hasten  to  the  rescue.  A 
oord  or  cable  is  drawn  across  above  the  fall,  and  firmly  secured ; 
and,  by  its  aid,  we  are  able  to  run  our  boat  out  into  the  very 
middle  of  the  stream,  and  pluck  from  the  whirling,  eddying 
waters  our  half-strangled  and  struggling  fellow-men.  We 
bear  them  to  the  shore,  and  give  them  over  to  the  care  of  friends 
who  had  counted  them  lost,  but  who  greatly  rejoice  at  their 
rescue.  Elated  with  our  success,  we  are  once  more  upon 
the  river,  and  again  return  to  the  shore  with  a  blessed  freight 
of  rescued  men  ;  and  thus  the  work  goes  on.  But  what  in- 
fluence sends  down  this  continued  succession  of  half-drowned 
men  ?  Rumors  reach  us  that  influences  are  operating  farther 
up  the  stream,  which  produce  the  mischief  we  deplore.  Leav- 
ing some  of  our  brethren  to  man  the  boat,  and  continue  the 
benevolent  efforts  in  which  we  have  been  engaged,  a  number 
of  us  explore  the  banks  above,  and,  to  our  astonishment,  find 
men  busily  engaged,  from  morning  until  night,  in  catching  and 
thrusting  into  the  stream  all  who  come  within  their  reach,  ana 
whom  they  can  overpower.  Now,  sir,  will  you  advise  us  to 
go  down  again  to  the  verge  of  the  cataract,  and  there  expose 
ourselves  to  wet  and  cold,  to  night  watchings  and  fatigue,  to 
the  end  of  our  lives,  in  efforts  to  save  our  half-drowned  fellows 


THE    CURSE    OF    INTEMPERANCE.  125 

from  the  doom  to  which  they  are  hurrying,  and  take  no 
measures  to  put  a  stop  to  the  infernal  business  carried  on  just 
above  ?  Sir,  however  lookers  on  may  advise,  we  will  not 
consent  to  do  it.  We  will  see  to  it,  that  the  necessary  labors 
below  are  not  suspended,  while  we  will  send  a  good  strong 
detachment  up  stream,  to  tie  the  hands  and  arrest  the  opera- 
tions of  those  who,  for  vile  and  wicked  purposes,  are  sporting 
with  the  happiness  and  lives  of  men. 

Those  engaged  in  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  compounds,  and 
many  of  their  abettors  and  apologists,  would  take  different 
views  of  that  business  if  they  would  put  themselves  in  the 
way  of  witnessing  its  most  deplorable  results.  Much  of  its 
destructive  effects  they  must  see  ;  enough,  one  would  suppose, 
to  induce  them  to  abandon  the  traffic  ;  but  they  will  see'  no 
more  than  they  are  compelled  to.  They  are  not  willing  to 
investigate  the  subject,  and  know  the  whole  truth.  Some 
years  since,  while  conversing  with  the  keeper  of  a  splendid 
liquor  saloon,  in  the  city  of  Boston,  he  protested  to  me  that, 
although  he  had  been  engaged  in  the  business  for  many  years, 
he  had  not  witnessed  those  terrible  results  of  the  trade  so  often 
described  by  those  opposed  to  the  continuance  of  the  business. 
"  True,"  I  replied,  "  and  it  is  because  you  have  avoided  those 
places  where  the  worst  effects  of  your  business  are  to  be  seen. 
Suppose,"  I  added,  "  that  an  individual  were  to  place  a  twelve 
pounder  on  Steamboat  Wharf,  and  loading  it  to  the  muzzle, 
and  giving  it  a  direction  eastward,  were  to  discharge  it,  again 
and  again.  While  engaged  in  this  sport,  the  boat  arrives  from 
East  Boston,  and  an  individual,  with  breathless  haste,  runs  to 
him^  and  implores  him,  for  humanity's  sake,  to  desist,  assuring 
him  that  he  is  making  terrible  havoc  with  human  life.  Sir," 
said  I,  to  that  liquor-seller,  "  the  gunner  might  use  the  same 
language  you  employ,  and  declare  that  he  had  seen  no  evil 
results  from  his  operations ;  and,  like  you,  he  might  insist  on 
the  right  to  continue  his  sport.  And  yet,  all  that  had  been  told 
him  about  the  effects  of  his  business  might  be  true ;  the  dead 
and  the  dying  lie  scattered  about  the  streets  in  East  Boston,. 
11* 


126  MEANS    FOR   REMOVING    INTEMPERANCE. 

where  his  shot  struck.  Thus,  sir,  it  is  with  your  business,"  1 
continued.  "You  will  not  go  where  your  shot  strike.  You 
stand  here  by  your  bar,  and  teach  the  young  men  who  visit 
your  splendid  apartments  their  first  lesson  in  vice.  The 
depraved  appetite  is  here  formed,  and  when  it  has  so  far 
obtained  the  mastery  of  a  young  man,  that  he  begins  to  be 
drunken  and  a  little  rowdy,  he  is  given  to  understand  that  your 
establishment  is  not  the  place  for  him.  You  lose  his  acquaint- 
ance, while  he,  getting  his  stimulants  from  other  quarters,  goes 
on  to  destruction.  Five  years  afterwards,  that  wretched  and 
ruined  young  man  dies  drunk,  in  a  vile  cellar,  it  may  be,  or 
by  the  wayside,  or  in  a  father's  house,  fifty  or  a  hundred 
miles  in  the  country,  and,  in  either  case,  you  are  not  there  to 
witness  the  horrible  agony  of  a  death  by  delirium  tremens. 
You  do  not  go  to  see  where  your  shot  strike"  Sir,  I  presume 
I  have  not  given  you  the  precise  language  I  employed  in  my 
effort  to  open  the  eyes  and  touch  the  heart  of  that  servant  of 
the  devil,  but  I  remember  that  the  employment  of  that  illustra- 
tion put  an  end  to  his  defence,  and  the  conference  between  us 
was  soon  ended. 

Sir,  I  conclude  this  too  lengthy  discourse  by  repeating,  the 
business  of  furnishing  to  mm  intoxicating  liquors,  to  be  em- 
ployed as  a  beverage,  must  be  prohibited  by  law.  Humani- 
ty, as  well  aa  the  eternal  principles  of  right  and  justice, 
demand  it. 


FUGITIVE  PIECES  IN  VERSE. 


THE  following  are  extracts  from  a  poem  recited  before  the 
Massachusetts  Legislative  Temperance  Society,  in  1846,  and 
subsequently  repeated,  by  invitation,  in  many  of  the  cities  and 
large  towns  of  New  England. 

•  ***'• 

An  aged  mother,  in  her  fierce  despair, 
Scatters  the  tresses  of  her  silver  hair, 
Frantic  rebels  against  the  biting  rod, 
And  spurns  the  comfort  of  the  man  of  God. 
Would  you  what  caused  the  desolation  know, 
That  wearies  echo  with  its  voice  of  woe  ? 
'Tis  not  that  yonder  gibbet  rears  on  high 
Its  black,  grim  outline  sharp  against  the  sky  ; 
'Tis  not  that  on  that  plank  her  first-born  stands, 
His  brother's  blood  scarce  dried  upon  his  hands  ; 
The  cause  lies  farther  —  where  that  crime  was  brewed, 
In  a  shop  "  licensed  for  the  public  good  "  ! 
Where  murder,  arson,  rape  are  brought  to  pass, 
With  hell-broth  vended  at  three  cents  a  glass. 
And  thus  her  hands  that  childless  widow  wrings, 
And  thus  that  fratricidal  felon  swings, 
While  the  accessory  before  the  fact 
Goes  free,  in  goods  and  character  intact. 

Look  on  yon  alms-house,  where  from  day  to  day 
The  grave  seems  cheated  of  its  lawful  prey ; 
Mark  well  those  squallid  paupers,  and  declare 
What  brought  nineteen  in  twenty  of  them  there. 
Could  but  the  truth  upon  the  canvas  glow, 
The  force  of  fancy  could  nc  farther  go. 


128  FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE. 

Ghast  Atrophy  should  gather  up  his  shroud, 

And  half-choked  Asthma  wheeze  his  wrongs  aloud ; 

There  pale  Consumption  by  your  side  should  stand, 

And  tottering  Palsy  point  with  trembling  hand  ; 

Fierce  Frenzy's  haggard  eye  with  fury  glare> 

While  Cholera  should  poison  all  the  air. 

All  these,  and  more,  with  Babel-like  acclaims, 

Should  cry  to  God  and  man  their  authors'  names. 

And  thus  this  scourge  holds  on  its  noisome  way, 

To  sicken,  madden,  poison,  wound,  and  slay. 

Ay,  thus  it  ever  has  gone  on,  and  still, 

Till  we  apply  the  remedy,  it  will ; 

Till  our  New  England  be  with  graves  o'erspread, 

One  vast,  continuous  city  of  the  dead  ; 

And  we  might  build  a  pyramid  of  bones 

As  high  as  Cheops's,  instead  of  stones. 

O  for  the  potent  rod  in  Moses'  hand, 
To  bid  this  plague  depart  from  out  our  land  ; 
A  plague  more  pitiless  than  Egypt  knew, 
It  smites  our  first-born  and  our  youngest  too. 
But  why  invoke  the  prophet's  wand  of  power  ? 
It  lies  within  our  reach  this  very  hour. 
Law,  law  's  the  rod  we  at  this  crisis  need  ; 
The  courage,  not  the  strength,  we  lack,  indeed  ; 
Our  hands  command  the  thong,  but  hardly  dare 
To  lay  it  on.     O,  cowards  that  we  are  ! 
We  pause  and  hesitate,  when  one  more  blow 
Might  end  the  contest  with  our  common  foe. 
##*### 
Meanwhile  rum-sellers,  with  exultant  voice, 
In  their  short  respite  from  their  doom  rejoice ; 
Ply  with  increasing  zeal  the  work  of  death, 
Nor  pause  to  let  humanity  take  breath. 
Shout,  drunkard-makers,  while  ye  may  —  your  sport 
Is  nigh  its  close  ;  root,  swine !  your  time  is  short, 
Though  longer  than  we  hoped,  or  ye  had  feared  ; 
A  few  brief  months  shall  bring  you  your  reward  ; 
And  that  ye  may  not  chide  us  for  delay, 
We'll  count  you  interest  to  the  reckoning  day. 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  129 

Your  dues  shall  yet  be  paid,  all  at  a  dash, 
In  fines,  and  costs,  and  iron  window  sash. 

How  will  they  sputter,  scold,  blaspheme,  and  swear, 
To  find  themselves  accounted  what  they  are  ! 
When  justice,  long  outraged,  shall  ply  her  thong 
On  shoulders  which  have  been  unwhipped  too  long. 
Methmks  I  hear  their  voice  of  wail  and  woe, 
Falling  on  my  prophotic  ear-drum  now. 

"  Alack !  alas !  and  well-a-day  !  in  vain  did  lawyers  plead ; 
Our  last  appeal  has  surely  failed  !  there  is  a  God  indeed ; 
I've  doubted  it  this  many  a  day,  but  now,  perforce,  I  see 
There  is  a  Judge  who  can't  be  reached  with  any  kind  of  fee. 

"  So  many  channels  stopped,  it  is  a  sorry  sight  to  see, 

Through  which  my  rum  flowed  constant  out,  and  gain  flowed  in 

to  me; 

Where  are  the  rights  our  fathers  fought  for  ?  and  pray  tell  me  where 
Our  liberties  are  fled !     O,  this  is  more  than  I  can  bear. 

"  Ye  sympathizing  sextons,  and  ye  undertakers  too, 

The  ruin  that  descends  on  me  is  most  as  hard  on  you  ; 

Ye  doctors,  and  ye  constables,  come  join  with  me  and  weep ; 

*  Othello's  occupation 's  gone,'  and  we  may  go  to sleep. 

"  Behind  the  bar  shall  I,  alas  !  no  longer  cut  a  swell. 
The  ragged  drunkard's  patron  saint,  the  loafer's  oracle  ? 
And  must  I,  ere  my  fortune 's  made,  in  my  vocation  stop  ? 
And  must  I  take  to  honesty  ?  and  must  I  shut  up  shop  ? 

"  Ah,  woe  is  me !  my  customers  will  learn  to  drop  their  coin 
And  pawn  their  coats  in  other  shopsfln  other  tills  than  mine, 
For  bread,  or  such  like  useless  stuff,  but  never  more  will  see 
One  drop  of  comfort,  such  as  they  were  wont  to  get  from  me. 

"  And  must  I  go,  indeed,  to  work ?     I  cannot,  cannot  do  it; 

I  doubt  if  stern  necessity  can  ever  bring  me  to  it. 

Does  Satan,  whom  I've  served  so  long,  now  leave  me  in  the  lurch  ? 

At  least,  I'll  be  revenged  on  him  —  I'll  go  and  join  the  church. 

"  When  troubles  thronged  on  every  side,  we,  as  a  last  resort, 
Had  turned  our  eyes,  with  grief  inflamed,  up  to  the  Supreme  Court 


130  FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE. 

But  gone,  alas !  are  all  our  hopes :  that  sun  went  down  at  noon ; 
Curse  on  those  judges'  judgment,  they  have  blown  us  to  the  moon. 

"Well,  turn  about,  since  Adam's  time,  was  ever  held  fair  play, 
And  'tis  a  proverb,  old  and  true,  each  dog  must  have  his  day  ; 
And  there's  one  comfort  left  for  us,  as  law  and  gospel  true, 
That  we've  had  ours,  each  dog  of  us  —  a  pretty  long  one  too. 

"  And  if  hard  work  should  prove  too  hard  for  unaccustomed  paws, 
And  should  the  law  break  us,  who  long  were  used  to  break  the  laws, 
We  still  can  steal ;  the  sin,  and  shame,  and  risk  cannot  be  more, 
In  secret  theft,  than  in  the  work  done  openly  before. 

"  My  curse,  a  hot  and  blasting  curse,  on  every  temperance  man ; 
On  Beecher,  Edwards,  Hawkins,  Grant,  and  all  the  accursed  clan. 
A  special  curse  is  richly  due  that  rhyming,  ranting  Jewett ; 
Powerless  himself  to  work  us  harm,  he  urged  the  rest  to  do  it" 

But  rising  high  above  this  cry  and  hue, 

Hark  to  the  shout  that  rends  the  concave  blue ! 

The  shout  exulting  multitudes  employ  ! 

The  shout  of  millions  in  triumphant  joy  ! 

Hear  the  poor  drunkard,  ragged,  sick,  and  sore, 

Thanking  his  God  that  grog-shops  are  no  more. 

And  hear  that  wife  express  her  joy  of  soul 

That  none  shall  dare  henceforth  to  fill  the  bowl 

For  her  poor,  thoughtless  husband.     Far  away 

Her  night  of  sorrow  flies  ;  she  greets  the  day. 

"  Thank  God,"  she  cries,  "  my  husband  turns  from  sin ; 

He  cannot,  if  he  would,  offend  again. 

My  husband  's  safe  ;  anonow  let  him  beware, 

Who  for  his  feebler  neighbor  spreads  the  snare. 

At  last  the  rod  for  which  stern  justice  calls, 

Not  on  the  tempted,  but  the  tempter  falls. 

Too  oft,  alas  !  a  sense  of  grievous  wrong 

Drew  forth  the  murmur,  *  Lord !  how  long,  how  long  ?  * 

I  dreamed  not  then  this  day  of  days  to  see, 

But  thought  myself  forgotten,  Lord,  of  thee. 

I  bow  me  now,  repentant,  in  the  dust ; 

Again  I  give  thee  back  my  boundless  trust 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  131 

Join  with  me,  mothers  all,  throughout  the  land 
Join  with  me,  little  children,  hand  in  hand ! 
Rejoice !  your  sufferings  at  length  are  o'er ; 
Your  grovelling  fathers  can  be  brutes  no  more. 
Our  prayers  are  heard,  at  our  extremest  need, 
For  Massachusetts  now  is  free  indeed." 

Men  of  the  Bay  State  —  yea,  and  women,  too  — 

This  triumph  still  remains  in  store  for  you ; 

On  you  humanity  and  duty  call ; 

Up  and  about  it,  brethren,  one  and  all. 

Say,  shall  your  own  old  Massachusetts  be 

Now  backward  in  the  cause  of  liberty  ? 

Who  struck  the  first  resolved,  decisive  blow 

Against  the  bondage  of  a  foreign  foe  ? 

Who  ever  foremost  stands  in  war  and  peace  ? 

And  shall  the  strife  for  independence  cease 

Now,  when  the  need  is  greater  than  of  yore ; 

Now,  when  a  tyrant  knocks  at  every  door ; 

Now,  when  awakened  Massachusetts  stands, 

And  holds  the  remedy  in  her  own  hands  ? 

Think  of  your  children !  all  that's  dear  in  life, 

Combine  to  urge  you  onward  to  the  strife. 

Strike  !  for  you  owe  it  to  your  buried  great ; 

Strike  !  for  you  owe  it  to  your  native  state, 

To  rid  her  soil  of  this  supreme  disgrace ; 

You  owe  it  to  yourselves,  your  country,  and  your  race 


I'D  sooner  black  my  visage  o'er, 

And  put  de  shine  on  boots  and  shoes, 

Than  stand  within  a  liquor  store, 
And  rinse  the  glasses  drunkards  use. 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE. 


FOURTEEN    O'CLOCK. 

NIGHT  o'er  the  earth  her  raven  wing  had  spread, 
Hens  had  retired,  and  men  had  gone  to  bed, 
When  two  spruce  dandies  took  it  in  their  head 
To  visit  Sandy's  shop, 
And  take  a  social  drop 

Of  whiskey-punch,  spiced  sling,  or  "  Tom  and  Jerry ; " 
And  while  with  curious  skill 
He  mixed  th'  inspiring  draught, 
They  stories  told,  and  laughed : 
Then  did  their  glasses  fill, 
And  while  they  quaffed, 

Cracked  their  coarse  jokes,  and  made  themselves  quite 
merry. 

Now,  gentle  reader,  with  your  kind  permission, 
We'll  leave  them  there,  and  make  a  slight  digression. 

A  little  spark  alights  upon  the  ground, 
And  seizing  on  the  dry  leaves  scattered  round, 
Kindles  at  length  a  very  pretty  fire, 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  133 

Which,  having  no  respect  for  man's  fine  labors, 
Burns  up  your  house,  then  seizes  on  your  neighbor's, 
While  to  the  very  heavens  the  flames  aspire. 
Burning  roofs  fall, 
For  aid  men  call ; 

The  fire,  with  blazing  fury,  still  drives  on, 
Until  (its  work  of  devastation  done) 
It  leaves  a  heap  of  smouldering  ashes  there, 
Which  SOITOW  may  extinguish  with  a  tear. 

Thus  causes  small,  through  folly  or  neglect, 
Produce  ofttimes  a  terrible  effect, 

Draining  from  mortal  eyes  oceans  of  tears. 
Oft  the  deceitful,  treacherous,  sparkling  glass 
Has  sunk  the  man  of  wisdom  to  an  ass, 

Or  something  like  one,  all  except  the  ears. 

The  rum  goes  in,  and  common  sense  goes  out ; 
Genius  and  learning  both  are  put  to  rout, 

And  empty  as  his  pockets  leave  his  head ; 
Kindly  affections  hasten  to  depart, 

(Each  grace  and  virtue  dead,) 
And  hissing  vipers  nestle  in  his  heart. 

With  lustrous  eyes,  intelligent  and  keen, 

As  slaughtered  pigs'  in  Boston  market  seen. ; 

With  fiendlike  scowl  or  idiotic  laugh, 

And  tongue,  for  mouth  like  his,  too  big  by  half, 

He  bawls  as  constant  as  a  weaning  calf; 
A  silly  subject  for  contempt  or  pity, 
Yet  in  his  own  opinion  wondrous  witty. 

The  fiend,  who  sneaks  about,  to  get  his  claw 
On  thoughtless  souls,  wherewith  to  fill  his  maw, 

Whene'er  he  sees  men  in  this  wretched  state, 
Laughs  as  though  he  would  split  his  sooty  hide, 
And  all  his  black  apprentices  beside 

Shake  their  long  tails,  with  fiendish  joy  elate. 

Such  man  becomes,  and  such  these  tipplers  were, 
By  frequent  sips  of  Sandy's  liquors  rare. 
12 


134  FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VEKSE. 

Night's  half-way  house  old  father  Time  had  passed, 

And  left  two  milestones  in  his  track  behind, 
And  onward  toward  the  third  was  journeying  fast. 

When  to  their  homes  our  heroes  seemed  inclined. 
Sandy  politely  guides  them  to  the  door, 

And  kindly  held  the  light ; 

For  'twas  a  very  dark  and  dreary  night, 
And  now  the  rain  did  like  a  torrent  pour. 
Drunkards  need  space  to  travel  in,  and  they 
Their  zigzag  journey  took  toward  Broadway  ; 
They  reached  it,  and  pursued  their  course  alcng, 
Cheering  old  night  with  fragments  of  old  song. 

We  said  the  rain  fell  fast,  and  so  it  did, 

And  down  the  gutter  like  a  river  flowed  ; 
And  as  with  gathering  strength  along  it  sped, 

Bore  on  its  breast  a  very  filthy  load  ; 
But  whence  derived,  we  shall  not  here  declare, 

Lest  we  might  give  offence  to  ears  polite ; 

Yet  to  prevent  mistake,  and  set  all  right, 
We'll  hint  that  hogs  and  horses  travel  there. 

Into  this  Mississippi  of  Broadway, 

While  city  lamps  did  shed  a  fitful  gleam, 
Our  drunken  friends  by  some  mischance  did  stray; 
And  as  they  reached  the  middle  of  the  stream, 
A  church  clock  struck  to  tell  how  time  sped  on ; 
And  to  be  sure  and  keep  their  reckoning  good, 
They  halted  in  the  middle  of  the  flood, 

And  stamping  with  their  feet,  they  counted  one. 
Again  it  struck  ;  they  stamped,  and  tallied  two, 
While  high  above  their  heads  the  water  flew. 
Three,  said  the  clock,  and  as  their  feet  replied, 
The  filthy  water  splashed  from  side  to  side. 

Another  clock,  behind  the  first  in  time, 
From  old  St.  Paul's  just  now  began  to  chime ; 
And  while  its  tones  reechoed  through  the  town, 
Amid  the  flowing  filth  their  feet  came  down. 
Six,  they  exclaimed ;  when  from  a  neighboring  spire 
Another  bell  rang  out  the  alarm  of  fire. 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  135 

This  gave  the  drunken  dandies  quite  a  sweat ; 
For  though  from  head  to  heels  they  now  were  wet 
With  mingled  gutter-wash,  a  falling  shower, 
Which  on  their  crazy  heads  did  constant  pour, 
Yet  there  they  stood,  and  stamped,  and  counted  still, 
As  on  their  ears  each  stroke  successive  fell. 

They  reached,  at  length,  fourteen;  and  quite  amazed, 
One  thus  exclaimed,  while  wildly  round  he  gazed, 
"  Through  all  my — (hie)  —  Zt/e,  some  twenty  years  or  more, 
I  never  knew  it  —  (hie)  —  quite  so  late  before.''1 


APOSTROPHE    TO    THE    MERRIMACK, 

RECITED  AT  THE   CONCLUSION   OF  A  TEMPERANCE   DISCOURSE,  IN  LOWELL, 

COLD  WATER,  hail !  sure  cure  for  countless  ills, 
Better  than  patent  drugs  or  Parr's  Life  Pills ; 
True  panacea  of  the  human  kind, 
Sovereign  alike  for  body  and  for  mind  ; 
Potent  to  quench  the  kindling  sparks  of  strife, 
To  heal  the  sorrows  of  the  weeping  wife ; 
Spell  that  alike  is  able  to  unclasp 
The  felon's  stealthy  clutch  and  ruffian's  grasp. 
How  great  the  debt  which  every  son  and  daughter 
Of  Adam's  race  doth  owe  to  thee,  Cold  Water. 

Say,  what  were  Lowell,  were  it  not  for  thee, 
Child  of  the  mountains,  journeying  to  the  sea  ?  * 
Pausing  a  moment  in  thy  glorious  course, 
Thou  lendest  here  to  man  thy  boundless  force ; 
Which,  joined  with  skill  to  his,  at  once  creates 
The  second  city  of  the/rrf'of  states. 
But  change  thy  course  a  little,  turn  thy  head, 
And  Lowell  would  be,  Where  ?  Why,  here  —  but  dead! 
Its  wheels  would  stop,  its  spindles  cease  their  hum ; 
The  cheerful  voice  of  industry  be  dumb  ; 

*  The  Merrimack  takes  its  rise  in  a  very  mountainous  region. 


136  FUGITIVE    PIECES   IN    VERSE. 

Its  streets,  deserted,  desolate,  and  lone. 
Would  be  with  rank,  unseemly  weeds  o'ergrown ; 
Decay  would  through  these  homes  her  besom  sweep, 
And  reptiles  crawl  where  now  your  infants  sleep ; 
Where  through  yon  snow-white  warp  the  shuttles  fling 
The  embracing  woof,  and  cheerful  maidens  sing, 
The  industrious  spider  rear  her  loom  on  high, 
And  weave  her  web  to  catch  the  incautious  fly ; 
Then,  like  rum-sellers,  with  a  fatal  skill, 
Retire  behind  her  screen,  entrap  and  kill. 

Its  busy  merchants,  now  a  very  host, 
Would  be  in  earnest  «  SELLING  OFF  AT  COST!" 
Its  barbers  and  its  lawyers  cease  to  shave, 
And  scores  of  doctors,  impotent  to  save 
Their  fees  or  patients,  fly  the  common  grave. 
The  dentist  who  can  scarce  believe  it  sin 
To  bag  your  gold  and  fill  your  teeth  with  tin, 
Would  take  a  journey  west,  in  hopes  to  find 
Substantial  food  for  his  own  teeth  to  grind. 

Those  mighty  cotton  kings,  whose  slightest  word 
Is  now  obeyed  almost  as  soon  as  heard ; 
Who  speak  the  word,  and  lofty  walls  ascend, 
Who  stretch  the  hand,  and  lengthening  streets  extend 
Who  stamp  the  foot,  and  like  an  ebbing  tide, 
The  very  pavement  settles  by  your  side,  — 
Lords  of  both  men  and  money,  where  were  they, 
Shouldst  thou  but  turn  thy  water  power  away? 
Their  might  and  salaries  gone,  alas  !  what  then 
Were  corporation  agents  ?     Merely  men. 

Such  were  the  fate  of  Lowell,  shouldst  thou  lack 
Thy  wealth  of  waters,  bounteous  Merrimack! 
The  pulse  of  life,  that  beats  so  full  and  free 
Through  all  her  mighty  frame,  is  given  by  thee  ! 
Then  let  her  own  thy  power,  yield  to  thy  sway, 
And  in  Cold  Water  wash  her  stains  away. 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  137 


A    COTTON    SPECULATION. 

IN  Bristol  county,  in  a  certain  town, 

Not  fifty  miles  from  one  they  call  Fall  River, 

A  trader  lived,  a  man  of  some  renown  ; 
And  though  he  peddled  grog,  men  called  him  clever 

He  chanced  to  have  a  very  worthy  wife, 

Possessed  of  real  nobleness  of  mind, 
Benevolent  and  kind ; 

And  swayed  by  her  he  lived  a  decent  life. 

Upright  in  some  respects,  yet  still,  for  gold, 

The  devil's  own  elixir,  Rum,  he  sold  ; 

And  while  promoting  thus  "  the  public  good," 

Took  in  exchange  the  cash,  or  —  what  he  could. 

His  house  stood  distant  from  the  store 

Some  twenty  rods  or  more  ; 
And  toward  the  close  of  a  fair  summer's  day 
A  wretched  beggar  thither  bent  his  way. 

His  eye  was  sunken,  and  his  look  was  sad ; 

His  beard,  unshaven,  o'er  his  bosom  hung ; 
While  tattered  rags,  with  which  the  wre  ,ch  was  clad, 

Stirred  by  the  evening  breeze,  around  him  swung. 
12* 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN   VERSE. 

An  old,  crushed  hat  protected  his  gray  head, 

While  his  thin  locks  were  streaming  in  the  wind ; 
He  moved  along  with  tottering,  feeble  tread, 
Bending  beneath  a  pack, 
Which  rested  on  his  back, 
While  his  lean  dog  was  trotting  close  behind. 

He  mounts  the  steps,  and  gently  rings  the  bell : 

The  wife  invites  him  in,  and  sets  a  chair, 
And  while  the  wretch  his  tale  of  woe  doth  tell, 

There  glistens  in  her  eye  the  sympathetic  tear. 
She  offers  food ;  but  that  he  does  not  want ; 

And  seeing  what  a  scarecrow  dress  he's  got  on, 
Concludes  of  clothing  he  must  sure  be  scant, 

Especially  of  that  part  made  of  cotton. 
For  through  his  tattered  rags,  all  glazed  with  dirt, 

(Although  she  has  a  most  observant  eye,) 

Collar  or  wristbands  she  cannot  espy, 
Or  e'en  the  smallest  vestige  of  a  shirt. 

Then  quick  as  thought  she  to  her  chamber  flew, 
And,  from  her  husband's  ample  store, 
Selected  one  he  oft  had  wore, 

And  in  the  beggar's  lap  the  needed  garment  threw. 

He  stammered  out  his  thanks,  and  in  his  pack 
He  stowed  the  gift,  and  swung  it  on  his  back ; 
Then  took  his  leave,  and  toward  a  neighboring  wood 
He  bent  his  steps,  and  made  what  speed  he  could. 

There,  seated  on  a  log,  he  viewed  his  prize, 
As  any  tippler  would,  with  gin-inflamed  eyes  ; 
And  thus  communed  he  with  himself:  "  Shall  I, 
To  please  the  eyes  of  other  people,  die  ? 
True,  I  am  shirtless  ;  but  then,  what's  the  harm  ? 
We  need  more  than  our  clothes  to  keep  us  warm. 
To  clothe  the  outward  man  is  sure  a  sin, 
If  we  neglect  the  better  part  within. 
Tis  true,  <  man  wants  but  little  here  below,* 
Yet  wants  that  little  often  —  that  we  know. 
Rags  will  buy  gin,  and  gin  I  sure  must  have ; 
Without,  though  c  ad  in  silks,  I  could  not  live. 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  139 

So  heve  it  goes  ! "     The  garment  then  he  tore, 
And  with  the  rags  he  hasted  to  the  store, 
And  had  his  empty  bottle  filled  once  more. 

As  out  the  wretch  was  passing  with  his  gin, 

By  chance  the  merchant's  lady  happened  in, 

And  to  her  husband  thus  :  "  What  had  he  there 

Within  that  bottle  ?  "  —  "  What  ?     Some  gin,  my  dear." 

"  And  could  that  wretched  beggar  thus  deceive  ? 

Can  tears  tell  lies  ?    What  shall  we  then  believe  ? 

Stooping  and  sad,  he  tottered  to  our  door, 

And  begged  I  would  '  have  pity  on  the  poor.' 

While  like  a  child  he  wept,  I  could  but  heed 

His  prayer,  and  gave  him  what  he  seemed  to  need : 

He'd  not  a  rag  of  cotton  on  his  skin ; 

And  had  he  still  the  cash  to  purchase  gin  ?  " 

"  He  did  not  pay  in  cash,"  the  man  replied. 

"Not  cash!  —  and  what  had  he  to  pay  beside?" 

"Why,  rags."  "  He  barter  rags !  What  sort?  Speak  quick; 

I  fear  the  wretch  has  played  us  both  a  trick." 

"Here  is  the  bundle,"  said  he,  "  if  you  doubt 

What  it  contains,  just  pull  the  fragments  out." 

She  drew  them  forth,  and  made  the  fellow  stare, 

By  loud  exclaiming,  "  Sir,  see  there !  see  there  ! ! 

There  is  your  name  —  I  wrought  it  there  myself— 

And  that  old  ragged,  dirty,  lying  elf, 

As  great  a  hypocrite  as  e'er  was  born, 

Has  sold  you  your  own  shirt,  in  pieces  torn." 

Then,  staring  in  the  face  of  her  liege  lord, 
And  suiting  well  her  action  to  the  word, 
With  bitter  irony,  she  thus  exclaimed : 
"  Dear  sir,  don't  look  confounded  or  ashamed ; 
For  one  of  moderate  means,  and  humble  station, 
You've  made  a  splendid  cotton  speculation" 


140  FUGITIVE    PIECES   IN    VERSE. 


THE    RUM-SELLER'S    AND    RUM    DRINKER'S 
LAMENTATION. 

THE  following  article,  hastily  prepared  for  the  occasion,  was 
recited  before  a  general  convention  of  the  friends  of  tem- 
perance, holden  at  Boston,  in  January,  1839.  The  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances which  attended  its  recitation  gave  it  considerable 
effect  and  notoriety  at  the  time,  notwithstanding  its  very  little 
merit  as  a  piece  of  composition  ;  and,  at  the  urgent  solicita- 
tion of  friends,  the  author  gives  it  a  place  in  this  collection 
of  scraps.  Those  who  listened  to  its  recitation,  but  have 
never  seen  it  in  type,  will  think,  while  they  peruse  it,  that 
something  must  have  been  left  out  which  originally  gave  it 
interest.  They  are  right :  something  indeed  has  been  left  out 
in  the  publication  of  it.  The  law  of  '38,  which  aimed  at  the 
entire  annihilation  of  the  retail  trade,  was  then  in  existence, 
and  all  the  objections  which,  in  this  article,  were  put  into  the 
mouth  of  the  drunkard,  were  current  coin  with  the  party 
opposed  to  the  law.  Twelve  distinguished  gentlemen,  most 
of  whom  were  wholesale  liquor-dealers,  had  just  come  out 
with  an  address  to  the  people,  condemning  the  principles  of 
the  law  on  account  of  its  severe  pressure  on  the  interests  of 
the  poorer  classes,  who  could  not  buy  fifteen  gallons  at  a  time. 
These  circumstances,  with  the  fact  that  the  drunkard's  speech 
was  given  in  character,  so  far  as  a  sober  man  could  do  it, 
gave  to  the  recitation  of  the  piece  an  interest  which  will  be 
looked  for  in  vain  in  the  printed  copy. 
A  DREAM. 

The  labors  of  the  day  were  done, 
And,  wearied  with  its  toil  and  care, 

I  sought,  and  reached  my  house,  and  soon 
Was  seated  in  my  easy  chair. 

Sleep  closed  at  once  my  heavy  lids, 

When,  in  his  chariot  of  air, 
Imagination  bore  me  on, 

And  dropped  me  in  your  Stillhouse  Square. 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  Ml 

The  place  was  gloomy  as  the  grave ; 

And  from  a  dark  and  dismal  den, 
Not  distant  far,  there  came  forth  sounds 

As  from  a  group  of  drunken  men ;  — 

And  with  them  curses  mingled  oft, 
And  nearer  drew  the  sounds,  and  soon 

There  seemed  a  man  approaching  slow, 
Seen  dimly  by  the  midnight  moon. 

And  while  the  group  more  distant  sang, 
And  shouted  forth  their  haw  —  haw — haw, 

This  man  drew  near,  and  thus  exclaimed: 
"  My  curse  upon  the  license  law." 

With  that  he  stamped  upon  the  stones, 
With  which  were  paved  the  public  way, 

And  still  spoke  on  —  I  caught  the  tones  — 
And  thus  he  said,  or  seemed  to  say  :  — 

"  Alas  !  for  the  days  of  our  glory  are  past, 

And  the  long-dreaded  evil  has  reached  us  at  last 

We  must  now  our  respectable  traffic  give  o'er, 

For  our  license  is  out,  and  we  cannot  get  more. 

No  more  shall  the  poor,  oppressed  laborers  come 

To  our  shops,  to  replenish  their  bottles  with  rum ; 

Oppressed  by  tyrannical  laws,  they  may  sigh, 

And  mourn  over  joys  that  are  past,  and  go  dry  ; 

But  they  must  not  blame  us,  for  we've  often  declared, 

That  we  would  still  fill  up  their  jugs  if  we  dared. 

No,  they  must  not  blame  us ;  and  if  they  find  their  doom 

Is  to  spend  all  their  long,  tedious  evenings  at  home, 

With  a  rabble  of  children,  and  a  sad,  peevish  wife, 

Without  even  one  gill  of  the  comfort  of  life, 

Then  from  each  toper's  throat  the  hot  curses  will  pour, 

Before  which  these  temperance  fanatics  will  cower, 

Repent  their  rash  acts,  and,  with  hearty  good  will, 

Give  us  what  we  contend  for  —  a  license  to  kill" 

He  passed — and  next  the  drunkard  came, 
With  blood-shot  eye  and  face  of  flame, 


142  FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE. 

With  drivelling  mouth,  with  pimpled  nose, 
With  crownless  hat  and  tattered  clothes, 
With  trembling  hand,  with  unshod  feet, 
That  sought  by  turns  both  sides  the  street 
With  zigzag  step  he  strode  along, 
Unmindful  of  the  tittering  throng 
Of  thoughtless  fools  of  various  sort, 
That  followed,  just  to  enjoy  the  sport. 
Sudden  he  stopped,  as  he  were  lost, 
And  leaning  'gainst  a  friendly  post, 
While  round  him  closed  the  gathering  crowd, 
Thus  belched  his  troubles  forth  aloud :  — 

"  Nabers  and  frinds,  and  can  this  be ! 

And  shall  we  be  no  longer  free  ? 

Say,  has  the  time,  long  dreaded,  come, 

When  we  can't  have  one  drop  of  rum  ? 

If  that 's  the  case,  it  beats  creation, 

And  I'll  up  stakes,  and  quit  the  nation. 

Why,  sir,  if  we  submit  in  quiet, 

The  next  they'll  rigilate  our  diet ; 

And  say  by  law  we  shan't  eat  carrin, 

Or  flesh  of  beasts  that  died  of  murrin. 

'Tis  very  strange  that  men  should  think 

To  rigilate  by  law  our  drink. 

In  laws  like  this  there  is  no  merit ; 

They  rouse  up  our  New  England  sperit 

We'd  have  folks  know  that  we're  born  free ; 

Our  fathers  fout  for  liberty  ; 

And  'fore  our  nateral  rights  we'll  yield, 

We'll  shoulder  arms  and  march  t'  the  field, 

Assert  our  rights  as  freemen  should, 

And  battle  for  the  public  good. 

But  not  alone  shall  we  go  forth ; 

Our  friends  will  come  from  south,  from  north, 

From  east,  from  west,  good  sturdy  fellers, 

Led  on  by  BOSTON  LIQUOR-SELLERS." 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  143 


EXTRACTS    FROM    AN    ADDRESS    TO    RETAILERS. 

THE  following  are  extracts  from  one  of  the  earliest  pro- 
ductions of  the  author  on  the  subject  of  temperance,  and 
has  no  merit  as  a  piece  of  composition.  It  contains  some 
thoughts,  however,  which  it  may  be  well  for  those  to  consider 
who  are  engaged  in  the  traffic  in  intoxicating  poisons.  The 
picture  is  a  true  and  sad  one,  though  clumsily  drawn. 

YE,  who,  regardless  of  your  country's  good, 
Fill  up  your  coffers  with  the  price  of  blood ; 
Who  pour  out  poison  with  a  liberal  hand, 
And  scatter  crime  and  misery  through  the  land ; 
Though  now  rejoicing  in  the  midst  of  health, 
In  full  possession  of  ill-gotten  wealth, 
Yet  a  few  days,  at  most,  the  hour  must  come, 
When  ye  shall  know  the  poison-seller's  doom, 
And  shrink  beneath  it ;  for  upon  you  all 
The  indignation  of  a  God  shall  fall. 


Bear  this  in  mind:  ye  have  at  3  our  command 
The  power  to  bless,  or  power  to  curse  the  land. 
If  ye  will  sell,  Intemperance  still  will  roll 
Her  wave  of  bitterness  o'er  many  a  soul 
Still  shall  the  wife  for  her  lost  husband  mourn, 
And  sigh  for  days  that  never  shall  return. 
Still  that  unwelcome  sight  our  eyes  shall  greet, 
Of  beggared  children  roaming  through  the  street ; 
And  thousands,  whom  our  labors  cannot  save, 
Go  trembling,  tottering,  reeling,  to  the  grave. 

Still  loitering  at  your  shop  the  livelong  day, 
Will  scores  of  loungers  pass  their  hours  away ; 
And  e'en  the  peaceful  night,  for  rest  ordained, 
Shall  with  their  noisy  revels  be  profaned. 
The  poisonous  cup  will  pass,  and  mirth  and  glee 
Gild  o'er  the  surface  of  their  misery ; 


144  FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE. 

Uproarious  laughter  fill  each  place  between — 
Harsh  oaths,  ungodly  songs,  and  jests  obscene. 
And  there  you'll  stand  amid  that  drunken  throng, 
Laugh  at  the  jest,  and  glory  in  the  song. 

How  oft  ye  see  the  children  of  the  poor, 
With  unshod  feet,  unwilling,  throng  your  door, 
And  carry  with  them,  as  they  homeward  go, 
The  fruitful  source  of  wretchedness  and  woe  — 
That  which  will  change  the  father  to  a  beast ; 
That  which  will  rob  a  mother  of  her  rest ; 
And  take  from  half-fed  children  needful  bread, 
And  give  them  curses,  frowns,  and  blows  instead ! 


Pour  out  your  poison  till  some  victim  dies  ; 
Then  go,  and  at  his  funeral  wipe  your  eyes. 
Join  there  that  mourning  throng,  with  solemn  face, 
And  help  to  bear  him  to  the  burial-place. 
There  stands  his  wife,  with  weeping  children  round 
While  their  fast-falling  tears  bedew  the  ground. 
From  many  an  eye  the  gem  of  pity  starts, 
And  many  a  sigh  from  sympathizing  hearts, 
Comes  laboring  up,  and  almost  chokes  the  breath, 
While  thus  they  gaze  upon  the  work  of  death. 
The  task  concludes ;  the  relics  of  the  dead 
Are  slowly  settled  to  their  damp,  cold  bed. 

Come,  now,  draw  near,  my  money-making  friend ; 
You  saw  the  starting  —  come  and  see  the  end. 
When  you  first  filled  his  glass,  one  would  suffice ; 
Next  two  were  wanting ;  and  now,  here  he  lies. 
Look  now  into  that  open  grave,  and  say, 
Dost  feel  no  sorrow,  no  remorse,  to-day  ? 
Does  not  your  answering  conscience  loud  declare, 
That  your  cursed  avarice  has  laid  him  there  ? 

Now,  since  the  earth  has  closed  o'er  his  remains, 
Turn  o'er  your  book,  and  count  your  honest  gains. 
How  doth  the  account  for  his  last  week  begin?  — 
"  Monday,  tlie  tiventy-fourthj  one  quart  of  gin." 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN    VERSE.  145 

A  like  amount,  for  each  succeeding  day, 
Tells  on  the  book,  but  wears  his  life  away. 
Saturday's  charge  makes  out  the  account  complete, 
"  To  doth,  Jive  yards,  to  make  a  winding-sheet."  * 
There,  all  stands  fair,  without  mistake  or  flaw, 
How  honest  trade  will  thrive,  UPHELD  BY  LAW  ! 


A    FRAGMENT. 

THE  dealer  at  wholesale  declares  he's  a  friend 
To  the  temperance  cause,  and  his  aid  he  will  lend 
To  moderate  measures,  that  won't  interfere 
With  his  rum-gotten  profits  of  thousands  a  year. 
He  sells  by  the  hogshead,  and  thinks  he's  a  saint, 
Compared  with  the  fellows  who  sell  by  the  pint. 

The  retailer  too,  as  he  stands  at  his  bar, 
Declares  we  are  going  too  fast  and  too  far ; 
Expresses  his  sympathy  for  the  "  good  cause  " 
By  cursing  fanatics  and  temperance  laws. 
He's  for  temperance  too,  you'll  hear  him  declare, 
Yet  beats  up  recruits  for  the  pit  of  despair. 

The  drunkard,  encouraged,  now  rouses  his  spunk, 
And  boasts  of  a  "  nateral  right "  to  get  drunk ; 
•Declares,  as  they're  bent  on  abridging  that  right, 
He  will  still  drink  his  toddy,  if  only  "  for  spite." 
And  while  he  insists  he's  a  temperance  man, 
Cries,  "Down  with  that  ultra,  fanat  —  hie  —  al  clan." 

*  A  friend  of  the  author,  residing  in  Coventry,  R.  I.,  came  into  pos- 
session of  the  leaf  of  an  account  book,  on  which  a  poor  drunkard  had 
been  charged  with  a  quart  of  gin  a  day,  for  five  successive  days.  On  the 
night  of  the  fifth  day,  he  died  in  a  drunken  fit ;  and  the  charge  on  the 
rum-seller's  book  for  the  sixth  day  was,  "to  cloth,  five  yards,  for  winding- 
sheet." 

13 


146  FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN   VERSE. 


CRACK    UP!     CRACK    UP!! 

SOME  few  years  since,  the  author  had  occasion  to  spend  the 
night  at  the  village  of  Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  and  as  there  was  no 
public  house  in  the  village  kept  on  temperance  principles,  he 
was  under  the  necessity  of  taking  lodgings  at  a  hotel  where 
intoxicating  drinks  were  furnished  to  all  who  desired  them. 
Just  after  the  clock  had  struck  the  hour  of  nine,  some  very 
respectable  looking  gentlemen,  who  were  sitting  around  the 
bar-room  fire,  engaged  in  an  exercise  which  they  called  "  crack- 
ing up."  The  object  of  the  game  seemed  to  be,  to  determine 
which  of  the  individuals  should  pay  for  the  drink  of  the 
company.  The  important  question  was  decided  by  the  tossing 
up  of  a  piece  of  money,  and  its  fall  near  to  or  remote  from 
a  certain  crack  in  the  floor  previously  designated.  The  ser- 
vices of  the  bar-keeper  were  then  required  to  prepare  for  the 
party  some  intoxicating  compound,  which  was  swallowed  by 
them  with  evident  gusto.  It  was  suggested  to  the  mind  of  the 
writer,  while  the  scene  described  was  passing  before  him,  that 
the  individuals  thus  engaged  did  not,  in  their  minds,  associate 
their  practices  with  the  probable  consequences  to  those  con- 
nected with  them  by  the  most  tender  ties.  The  following 
article,  which  was  written  in  the  bar-room,  immediately  after 
witnessing  the  interesting  ceremony,  and  which  found  place 
in  the  village  paper  the  following  day,  was  intended  to  suggest 
to  them  the  probable  consequences  of  their  recklessness  and 
folly. 

Crack  up !  crack  up !  the  clock  strikes  nine ; 
We  have  not  drank  for  half  an  hour. 
Say,  will  ye  choose,  or  rum,  or  wine, 
Or  brandy's  stimulating  power  ? 

Come,  fill  the  glass, 

And  let  it  pass, 

Till  sorrow,  care,  and  thought  are  gone, 
And  exiled  reason  quits  her  throne 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN   VERSE.  147 

Come,  jovial  boys,  crack  up !  crack  up ! 
And  fill  again  the  maddening  cup. 
What  though  our  wives  sit  quite  alone, 
And  muse  on  hopes  and  pleasures  gone  ? 
Though  bitter  thoughts  their  bosoms  burn 
The  while  they  wait  for  our  return 

Let  all  that  pass  ; 

Come,  fill  the  glass ; 
We'll  drink  to  love  that  never  dies, 
Till  from  our  breasts  affection  flies. 

Crack  up !  crack  up  !  come,  fill  again 

The  accursed  cup  with  liquid  fire ; 

And  now,  its  contents  let  us  drain 

To  sleeping  babes  and  hoary  sire  ; 

To  mother  dear,  though  drowned  in  tears, 

And  bending  with  the  weight  of  years. 
Bid  sorrow  flee, 
And  drink  with  glee ; 

Though  babes  may  need  a  father's  care, 

From  wretchedness  and  want  to  save, 

And  though  we  bring  the  time-bleached  hair 

Of  parents  sorrowing  to  the  grave, 
Come,  fill  again  the  accursed  cup, 
And  let  us  drain.    Crack  up !  crack  up ! 


148  FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN   VERSE. 

STRANGULATION;    OR,   THE    DISTILLER'S    DISASTER. 

A   GRIST   PROM  JEMMY'S   MILL,    GROUND   MAY   1ST,    1845. 

A  NOTED  distiller  of  Boston  fell  into  one  of  his  fermenting 
vats,  a  few  days  previous  to  the  appearance  of  the  following 
article,  and  was  dragged  from  it  by  the  hands  of  his  workmen 
in  the  establishment,  but  for  whose  timely  interference,  he 
must  have  lost  his  life  by  strangulation. 

Doctor.  Jemmy,  have  you  learned  that  a  celebrated  distiller 
fell  into  one  of  his  fermenting  vats,  a  few  days  since,  and 
came  near  losing  his  life  by  strangulation  ? 

Jemmy.  Indaad,  I  did.  I  read  it  in  the  paper  ;  and  whin  I 
told  the  matter  to  Michael  McGowan's  wife,  she  foch'd  a 
scrame,  and  slapped  her  two  big  hands  togither,  and  rin  caper- 
ing about  the  room  like  as  if  she'd  been  half  mad.  "  What  ails 
you  ?  "  said  I.  "  What  ails  you  ?  "  said  she,  pouting  out  her 
lips,  and  spaking  my  own  words  in  a  kind  of  mockin  way. 
"  Botheration  to  ye  !  Doesn't  them  same  distillers  make  the 
vile  crathur  that  pits  strangulation  down  the  necks  of  paple 
more  dacent  and  honest  nor  themselves  ?  Didn't  my  own 
cousin  Tim  Taggerty  —  rest  his  sowl !  —  drink  the  liquor  till  it 
made  him  crazy  entirely ;  and  then  put  a  rope  on  his  neck, 
and  hang  up  in  the  barn ;  and  wasn't  that  strangulation  ? 
Didn't  Betty  Cragin,  whin  she  was  drunk,  roll  her  baste  of  a 
carcass  on  her  own  swate  baby,  that  wasn't  more  nor  sax 
weeks  old,  and  smother  the  life  out  of  it?  What  was  it  but 
strangulation  ?  And  now,  jist  because  the  distiller  of  all 
this  divilment  got  a  small  taste  of  his  own  midicin,  they  pit  it 
in  the  papers,  and  make  such  a  hellaballoo " 

Dr.  Hold,  Jemmy  !  I  have  no  time  to  hear  more  of  Mis- 
tress McGowan's  lecture  on  strangulation  ;  but,  as  you  seem  to 
be  quite  interested  in  the  matter,  suppose  you  put  the  facts  in 
your  patent  rhyme-grinder,  and  turn  out  something  for  the 
Journal. 

Jem.    Faix !  I'll  do  it. 


FUGITIVE    PIECES    IN   VERSE.  149 

[He  brings  out  the  machine,  and  commences  operations.] 


I'll  sing  you  a  song  that  is  rare  and  queer, 

Of  a  nager  that  fell  in  a  vat  of  beer, 

"Which  was  rendered  so  fine,  as  he  slowly  decayed, 

That  the  liquor  was  praised, 

Its  price  was  much  raised, 
The  business  increased,  and  a  fortune  was  made. 

Dr.  Jim,  you  make  strange  work.  You  were  going  10 
grind  out  a  song  from  facts  that  occurred  in  this  western 
world,  and  your  very  first  verse  is  about  an  old  affair  that 
happened  twenty  years  ago,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

Jem.     Never  mind,  doctor,  jewel.     I'll  corne  to  it  directly. 

[He  turns  again.] 

One  Haman,  the  Scriptures  relate, 

Got  mad  at  the  Jew  Mordecai, 

And  built  for  him,  outside  the  gate, 

A  gallows  some  fifty  feet  high. 
"Ha  !  ha  !  "  said  his  wife,  "  they  will  yet  learn  to  fear  us  — 

These  stiff-necked  obstinate  Jews : 
Now  go  to  the  party  with  Ahasuerus, 

Be  cheerful,  and  banish  the  blues  ; 
Come,  hurry,  my  honey, 
Drink  wine,  and  be  funny." 

He  went  —  and,  bad  luck  to  him  !  —  made  such  a  bother, 
He  got  himself  hanged  jist,  instead  of  the  other  ! 
And  he  couldn't  complain  of  the  way  it  was  done, 
For  they  let  down  the  drap  on  a  plan  of  his  own. 

Dr.     Worse  and  worse,  Jemmy !     You  are   farthe/*  from 
13* 


150  FUGITIVE   PIECES    IN   VERSE. 

your  proper  subject  than  before.  You  have  wandered,  in  point 
of  distance,  as  far  as  Persia  ;  and  as  to  time,  you  have  made  a 
jump  backward  of  more  than  two  thousand  years.  What  next  ? 

Jem.  Troth,  ye're  mighty  particular  !  If  you  don't  be  azy 
stoppin  me,  I  won't  grind  at  all,  at  all,  and  ye  may  turn  ye'r- 
self. 

Dr.  Well,  let  go  the  crank,  and  I'll  give  you  a  specimen 
of  my  work,  off  hand. 

[The  doctor  turns,  while  Jemmy  looks  on  with  amazement.] 

The  fire  glowed  bright  beneath  the  still, 

And  fiercely  boiled  the  foaming  flood, 
Destined  the  drunkard's  veins  to  fill, 

To  scorch  his  brain  and  fire  his  blood. 
The  workmen  cheerly  plied  their  tasks, 

When  in  the  great  distiller  came 
T'  inspect  the  work  ;  and  now  he  asks, 

"  How  boils  the  flood  ?  How  burns  the  flame  ? " 
Vexed  that  the  hell-broth  cooks  so  slow, 

He  mounts  the  vat,  with  careless  tread, 
To  stir  the  mixtures  vile  below, 

But  slips,  and  plunges  over  head  ! 
Panting  and  gasping  hard  for  breath, 

He  struggles  with  the  damning  tide, 
And  would  have  yielded  there  to  death, 

But  helping  hands  were  now  applied, 
Which  dragged  him  from  the  foaming  vat, 

Resembling  much  a  drowned  wharf-rat. 

Bedaubed  with  yeasty  slime  and  foam, 

Fragrant  and  dripping  as  he  passed, 
This  great  distiller  sought  his  home  — 

By  sad  experience  taught  at  last 
This  truth,  contained  in  holy  writ :  — 
Who  for  his  neighbor  digs  a  pit, 
Will  some  time  tumble  into  it ! 


SELECTIONS  FROM   CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  THE 
PRESS. 


A  BRIEF    PLAN   OF    A    TEMPERANCE    CAMPAIGN. 

THE  following  letter,  addressed  to  Daniel  Kimball,  late  editor 
of  the  Massachusetts  Temperance  Standard,  and  which  ap- 
peared in  the  columns  of. that  paper  July  18,  1845,  may  inter- 
est the  reader,  as  it  expresses  the  author's  views  of  the  proper 
method  of  conducting  a  temperance  campaign.  The  time  and 
circumstances  which  called  it  forth  the  reader  will  gather  from 
the  letter  itself. 

MANCHESTER,  July  8,  1845. 
FRIEND  KIMBALL  : 

You  have  doubtless,  ere  this,  obtained  from  the  New  York 
papers  an  account  of  the  State  Temperance  Convention,  held 
at  Albany,  on  the  25th  of  June;  and  so  far  as  concerns  the  la- 
bor actually  performed  by  that  body,  you  have  doubtless  a  more 
detailed  account  than  I  could  give  at  this  distance  of  time,  as  I 
took  no  notes  of  the  proceedings.  I  wish,  nevertheless,  to  con- 
vey to  you,  and,  through  the  Standard,  to  others  more  immedi- 
ately concerned,  some  impressions  which  that  occasion  made 
on  my  mind,  in  relation  to  the  state  of  the  temperance  cause 
in  New  York,  arid  its  wants  at  the  present  crisis. 

There  will  be,  during  the  year,  a  great  deal  of  discussion, 
in  relation  to  the  law  which  was  passed  by  the  New  York  legis- 
lature at  its  last  session  ;  leaving  to  the  several  towns  and  cities 
(except  New  York  city)  the  decision  of  the  question,  in  April, 
1846,  whether  licenses  shall,  or  shall  not,  be  granted  for  the 
sale  of  intoxicating  drinks.  And  yet  I  fear  our  friends  will 


152  A   BRIEF    PLAN    OF   A   TEMPERANCE    CAMPAIGN. 

come  to  the  conflict,  at  that  time,  in  a  measure  unprepared, 
from  a  mistaken  view  of  what  is  necessary  to  that  preparation. 
Something  more  is  wanted  than  a  discussion  of  the  subject  in 
county  or  state  conventions.  The  war  must  be  carried  into  the 
enemy's  country.  The  friends  of  temperance  should  organize 
at  once  in  every  town,  and  not  only  hold  frequent  meetings  in 
the  different  school  districts,  but  flood  the  town  with  temper- 
ance publications.  And  on  the  character  of  these  publica- 
tions, as  well  as  the  character  of  discussions  which  will  be 
had,  every  thing  will  depend.  Let  not  our  friends  in  the 
Empire  State  suffer  their  attention  to  be  diverted  from  the 
main  point  to  abstract  and  wire-drawn  speculations  about  con- 
stitutions and  inalienable  rights.  Keep  the  great  eye  of  the 
public,  as  well  as  individual  eyes,  right  to  the  main  point.  Our 
neighbors  and  friends  are  falling  on  every  side  into  drunkards' 
graves.  Families  are  overwhelmed  with  sorrow,  suffering, 
and  shame,  in  view  of  the  course  pursued  by  the  inebriated 
husband  and  father.  Human  bodies  are  diseased  by  alcohol, 
until  they  present  to  the  world  "  a  bloated  mass  of  rank,  un- 
wieldy woe."  Reason  is  dethroned,  and  thousands  of  men 
are  turned  out  from  the  grog-shops  and  the  whiskey  bar 
rooms  raving  maniacs,  fitted  for  any  outrage  upon  the  prop- 
erty and  lives  of  unoffending  citizens,  which  a  mind  diseased 
may  suggest.  Once  pleasant  homes  are  falling  to  ruins,  and 
thousands  of  acres  of  the  once  fertile  soil  of  New  York  are 
so  grossly  neglected  by  the  drunken  owners,  that  "  thorns  and 
thistles  cover  the  face  thereof,  and  the  stone  wall  thereof  is 
broken  down."  Domestic  happiness  expires  in  the  fumes  of 
alcohol.  The  hearts  of  ten  thousand  wives  and  mothers  are 
breaking  and  bleeding,  pierced  and  trampled  upon  by  the 
accursed  traffic  in  strong  drink.  Ragged  and  shoeless  chil- 
dren are  roaming  in  the  streets,  their  physical  comfort,  their 
education,  and  their  morals  neglected.  Those  primary  schools 
of  vice  and  immorality,  the  grog-shop  and  the  bar-room,  are 
open  to  the  thoughtless  and  unreflecting,  seven  days  in  every 
week  through  the  year,  without  even  a  quarterly  vacation, 


A   BRIEF    PLAN    OF,  A    TEMPERANCE    CAMPAIGN.  153 

and  thousands  of  our  reckless  young  men  are  there  learning, 
from  rum-parched  tongues,  the  profane  oath  and  the  obscene 
jest,  which  they  in  turn  will  teach  to  others,  thus  daily  widen- 
ing the  influence  and  increasing  the  virulence  of  the  moral 
contagion.  The  Sabbath  is  counted  as  nought  wherever  these 
influences  prevail,  and  men  recklessly  trample  on  the  authority 
of  God,  and  desert  his  holy  temples,  spending  the  time  set 
apart  for  the  special  worship  of  the  Most  High  in  rioting  and 
drunkenness.  All  the  great  interests  of  society,  agricultural, 
manufacturing,  and  commercial,  are  suffering  more  from  the 
influence  of  intoxicating  drink  than  from  any  other  cause; 
while  our  poorhouses,  prisons,  and  insane  hospitals  are  filled 
with  the  wretched  victims  of  the  accursed  traffic.  Let  our 
New  York  friends  direct  the  attention  of  their  fellow-citizens 
unceasingly  to  these  terrible  truths,  confirmation  of  which 
may  be  found  in  every  county  and  town  of  the  state.  Array 
these  facts  on  paper,  and  put  a  copy  into  the  hands  of  every 
family,  until  they  shall  be  made  to  reflect,  to  feel  —  ay,  and 
to  speak  ;  —  until  they  shall  be  prompted  to  exclaim  with  the 
Doet, — 

"  Shall  tongues  be  mute  when  deeds  are  wrought 
Which  well  might  shame  extremest  hell  ? 

Shall  freemen  lock  the  indignant  thought  ? 
Shall  mercy's  bosom  cease  to  swell  ? 

Shall  honor  bleed  ?  shall  truth  succumb  ? 

Shall  pen,  and  press,  and  soul  be  dumb  ? " 

Let  the  enemy  talk  of  constitutions  and  inalienable  rights, 
of  free  trade^  and  the  like,  to  the  end  of  the  chapter ;  but  let 
us  talk  of  facts  —  of  soul-stirring  FACTS  of  daily  occurrence, 
and  from  those  facts  reason  out  the  duties  and  obligations  of 
those  we  address  by  plain  and  logical  argument,  resorting  to 
no  quirks  or  quibbles,  disdaining  any  use  of  sophistry,  and 
careless  about  scholastic  elegance.  Study  the  subject,  by  day 
and  by  night,  in  all  its  relations,  and  make  yourselves  familiar 
with  every  argument  by  which  the  right  and  the  truth  may  be 
sustained,  and  then  grapple  boldly  with  the  enemies  of  truth. 


154  THE  RUM-SELLER'S  REMEDY. 

Join  issue  with  them  wherever  they  may  be  met  —  in  the 
public  meeting,  in  the  columns  of  the  public  journals,  in  the 
social  circle,  in  the  stage-coach,  in  the  rail-car,  and  the 
steamboat.  Be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season.  Demand, 
as  you  justly  may,  (where  it  is  not  now  exerted,)  the  influ- 
ence of  the  pulpit.  "  Circulate  the  documents,"  with  untiring 
industry,  and  pray  God  for  light,  strength  and  victory.  Thus 
and  thus  only  can  the  Empire  State  be  prepared  to  settle 
aright  the  question  to  be  submitted  to  her  decision  next  April. 

But  I  must  rein  up  my  quill,  which  feeling  has  driven  upon 
the  gallop  along  the  track  of  desolation.  I  became  strongly 
interested  in  the  state  of  things  now  existing  in  New  York, 
while  at  the  Albany  Convention  —  almost  too  strongly  for  the 
cool  and  quiet  performance  of  my  duties  at  home.  It  is 
glorious  to  see  the  old  Empire  State  nerving  every  giant  limb 
of  her  huge  frame  to  shake  off  the  anaconda  that  has  -twined 
itself  around:  her.  There  are  noble  spirits,  within  her  borders, 
that  are  now  being  marshalled  for  a  desperate  conflict,  and 
every  bone  in  my  skin,  and  every  fibre  of  my  frame,  ache  to 
be  with  them  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  The  old  Bay  State, 
however,  demands  my  services,  and  must  have  them. 


THE    RUM-SELLER'S    REMEDY. 

"  I  do  not  allow  loafers  about  my  establishment"  said  a 
taverner  to  us,  some  time  since,  when  we  were  pressing  him 
pretty  closely  in  an  argument  in  reference  to  the  character  of 
his  business.  This  remark  was  accompanied  by  an  expression 
of  self-complacency  which  seemed  to  say,  "  There,  sir,  is  a 
triumphant  vindication  of  my  business."  •  "  But,  sir,"  we  in- 
quired, "  do  you  never  sell  a  glass  of  strong  drink  to  indi- 
viduals whom  you  know  to  be  drunkards  ?  "  "  O,  yes,"  was 
his  reply,  "  but  not  wnen  they  are  drunk.  I  never  allow  a 


THE  RUM-SELLER'S  REMEDY.  155 

man  to  drink  at  my  bar  when  I  see  he  has  got  enough."  How 
very  kind !  How  very  conscientious  ! ! 

Pamper  his  depraved  appetite,  fill  up  his  glass  until  his 
eye  is  glazed,  his  brain  reels  —  until  his  tongue  begins  to 
stammer,  his  limbs  to  fail,  and  Reason  to  totter  on  her  throne 

—  until  his  shame  is  visible  to  all  eyes,  and  then refuse 

him !  Pour  it  out  to  him,  and  allow  him  to  fill  himself  with 
your  vile  mixtures,  until  the  kindly  affections  of  his  nature  are 
crushed  —  until  every  base  and  malignant  passion  is  roused 
into  energetic  and  perhaps  fatal  action  —  until  he  is  fitted  for 
any  deed  of  darkness  —  and  then,  after  goading  him  to  mad- 
ness by  refusing  the  additional  draught  which  would  but 
stupefy  him,  and  render  him  comparatively  harmless — send 
him  home  to  his  suffering  wife  and  children,  who  will  tremble 
at  his  approach  !  And  all  this,  perhaps,  according  to  law  ! ! 
This  is  the  compassion  of  a  rum-seller !  !  of  the  respectable, 
the  licensed  rum-seller,  who  tells  you,  .with  infinite  self-com- 
placency, that  he  "  does  not  allow  any  man  to  drink  at  his  bar 
when  he  sees  that  he  has  got  enough."  But  how  is  he  to  dis- 
cover when  he  has  got  enough  ?  "  O,  by  his  appearance." 
Ah  !  and  what  must  be  those  appearances  ?  What  are  the 
particular  indications  that  he  has  got  enough  1  What,  but  the 
evidence  of  present  intoxication?  It  amounts  precisely  to 
this,  that  the  licensed  promoter  of  "  the  public  good  "  is  not 
to  sell  to  a  man  to  his  injury,  after  it  is  distinctly  seen  that  he 
is  already  drunk,  or,  in  the  vernacular  of  the  rum  craft,  after 
he  has  got  enough.  Why  not  license  a  gambling-house,  and 
make  it  a  special  condition  of  the  license,  that  the  licensed 
person  shall  not  in  his  establishment  allow  a  man  to  be 
cheated  of  his  money  after  it  distinctly  appears  that  his 
pockets  are  empty  ?  Why  not  license  a  man  to  sell  the 
plague,  on  condition  that  he  shall  communicate  it  to  no  one 
after  the  fatal  plague  spot  is  visible  on  the  surface  of  his 
body  ?  Why  not  prohibit  .he  selling  of  rope  to  a  man  after 
he  has  hanged  himself? 


156  INJUSTICE    TO    REFORMERS 


INJUSTICE    TO    REFORMERS. 

THOSE  who,  from  the  counting-room,  the  professional  study, 
or  the  busy  workshop,  watch  the  progress  of  the  temperance 
reformation  without  mingling  themselves  in  the  glorious  strife, 
have  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome,  the 
vexations  to  be  endured,  and  the  personal  sacrifices  to  be 
made  by  those  actually  and  constantly  engaged  in  this  great 
enterprise.  They  look  on  this  long  and  severe  struggle  as  did 
thousands  of  the  citizens  of  Boston,  from  the  roofs  of  their 
houses,  upon  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  Dense  clouds  of 
smoke  obscure  the  field  ;  but  as  these  are  occasionally  rolled 
away  by  the  passing  wind,  our  observers  catch  a  hasty  glance 
of  the  combatants,  and  do  not  fail  to  applaud  the  valor  of 
those,  who,  covered  with  wounds,  and  sweat,  and  dust, 
and  blood,  are  fighting  for  them  their  battles.  With  what 
interest  they  watch  the  various  evolutions,  the  fierce  onset,  the 
hasty  retreat !  and  with  what  intense  excitement  they  hear  the 
roar  of  musketry  and  the  clash  of  steel.  They  share  not, 
however,  the  toil  or  danger,  though-  they  do  partake  largely 
of  the  blessings,  the  liberty,  and  the  security  to  life  and  to 
inalienable  rights,  purchased  at  the  price  of  blood.  Thus  it  is, 
in  every  great  struggle  with  the  oppressors  and  enemies  of  our 
race.  A  few  endure  the  hardships  and  encounter  the  dangers 
of  actual  warfare,  while  all  share  in  the  blessings  secured. 
Of  the  "divinity,"  that  thus,  for  wise  purposes,  "shapes  our 
ends,"  we  will  not  complain;  of  the  cupidity  and  heartlessness 
of  men,  which  permits  or  enacts  such  injustice,  we  will  never 
cease  to  complain.  The  temperance  reformation  has  already 
secured  to  our  state  innumerable  blessings.  Every  branch  of 
business  useful  to  society  is  at  this  moment  prosecuted  with 
greater  facility  and  security,  in  consequence  of  the  changes 
of  habits  and  customs  introduced  by  it.  Intelligence  is  in- 
creased as  men's  heads  become  clear  of  the  fumes  of  alcohol ; 
the  standard  of  putac  morality  is  elevated  by  the  increase  of 


THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY   OF   THE    LICENSE   LAW.         157 

sobriety  —  accidents  are  less  frequent  —  crime  is  diminished,  — 
the  jail  and  the  poorhouse  have  unoccupied  rooms  —  and  life 
and  property  are  rendered  secure  — just  in  proportion  to  the 
advance  of  this  glorious  enterprise  ;  and  yet  thousands  who 
share  largely  in  the  blessed  results,  treat  with  cold  indifference 
and  gross  neglect  the  cause  which  produces  them,  and  its  hard- 
working and  self-sacrificing  friends.  Others,  still  more  blind 
or  wicked,  like  the  ungrateful  and  stupid  ass,  grow  wanton 
by  indulgence,  kick  at  their  friends,  and  bite  the  hand  that 
feeds  them. 


THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY    OF  THE    LICENSE   LAW. 

THE  right  of  the  states  to  pass  laws  restraining  or  prohibit- 
ing, within  their  limits,  the  sale  of  imported  liquors,  having 
been  denied  by  interested  parties,  the  question  came  before 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  at  Washington,  during 
the  winter  of  1845.  Distinguished  counsel  argued  the  question 
at  great  length  before  the  court.  The  judges  being  divided  in 
opinion  on  the  subject,  the  case  was  continued  to  the  next  term 
of  the  court,  to  be  holden  at  Washington,  in  the  month  of  Jan- 
ury,  1846.  A  question  of  such  vital  importance  to  the  cause 
of  temperance  called  forth  a  sharp  discussion,  through  the  col- 
umns of  our  public  journals.  The  following  are  selected  from 
a  number  of  articles,  on  that  subject,  by  the  author  of  this 
volume.  The  names  of  parties  are  suppressed,  as  they  would 
not  add  to  the  interest  with  which  the  reader  may  peruse  these 
sketches,  and  thejr  insertion  might  needlessly  irritate  the  feel- 
ings of  some,  whose  cooperation  in  that  great  work  of  reform 
the  writer  most  earnestly  desires. 

A  DREAM. 

DANVERS,  February  18,  1848. 
MR.  EDITOR  :  — 

Sitting  in  my  study,  a  few  evenings  since,  ruminating  on  the 
probable  influence  of  the  late  discussion  in  the  United  States 
14 


158         THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY    OF    THE    LICENSE    LAW. 

Court,  I  fell  into  a  dose.  I  dreamed  that  I  was  in  a  bar-room, 
surrounded  by  a  motley  company  of  beings,  vvbose  external 
appearance  betokened  the  most  abject  poverty  and  wretched- 
ness, but  who,  nevertheless,  seemed  in  high  glee.  A  group 
that  occupied  the  space  directly  in  front  of  the  bar,  seemed  to 
be  listening  with  the  deepest  interest,  while  the  bar-keeper  read 
from  a  paper  he  held  in  his  hand.  The  appearance  of  one  of 
the  group  was  so  striking,  that  I  will  attempt  to  describe  him. 
For  his  dress,  he  had  on  what  had  once  been  a  coat,  though 
much  too  large  for  a  person  of  his  size.  Both  cuffs  and  the 
skirts  had  been  torn  off,  and  the  body  of  the  garment,  fastened 
around  him  with  a  fragment  of  rope  instead  of  buttons,  con- 
tained a  sufficient  number  of  holes  to  admit  of  all  necessary 
ventilation.  His  boots  were  entitled  to  respect  from  their  age. 
One  leg  of  his  pants,  which  appeared  to  have  been  sorely  scan- 
ty in  longitude,  had  been  slit  from  the  bottom  to  a  distance  above 
the  knee,  and  was  kept  as  nearly  as  possible  in  place  by  an  old 
cotton  handkerchief  wound  about  it  on  the  leg  it  but  partially 
covered.  He  leaned  his  left  arm  on  the  bar,  thrusting  out  the 
leg  of  the  opposite  side  to  its  extreme  length.  In  his  right  hand 
he  held  an  old  hat,  which,  from  long  and  hard  usage,  had  be- 
come so  flexible,  that  it  might  easily  have  been  doubled  together 
and  put  in  the  pocket.  His  countenance  was  bloated,  and  his 
huge  nose  so  covered  with  pimples  and  projections,  that,  if  sev- 
ered from  the  head,  and  stuck  in  a  flower-pot,  it  might  have 
passed  for  a  plant  of  the  genus  cactus.  His  hair,  which  was 
long  and  uncombed,  was  ornamented,  here  and  there,  with 
fragments  of  straw,  or  heads  of  clover,  which  he  had  probably 
obtained  in  some  hay-loft ;  and  his  eyes,  inflamed  and  suffused 
with  moisture,  were  intently  fixed  on  the  bar-keeper,  who,  as  I 
have  said,  was  reading  for  the  instruction  of  the  company.  As 
the  reading  progressed,  I  heard  the  following  words  :  "  The 
right  to  import,  implies  the  right  to  sell — to  the  unrestricted  use 
of  all  the  channels  of  commerce,  even  the  most  minute,  to  the 
consumer."  The  hero  of  the  big  nose  instantly  raised  himself 
to  an  erect  posture,  and  gazing  for  an  instant  upon  the  sur- 


THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY    OF    THE    LICENSE    LAW.          159 

rounding  group,  with  a  countenance  expressive  of  intense 
delight,  dashed  his  old  hat  to  the  floor,  and,  leaping  into 
the  air,  uttered,  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  the  exclamation, 
"  Good  !  "  The  joy  seemed  contagious,  and  of  that  peculiar 
character,  which  ordinary  language  is  impotent  to  express,  and 
which  can  only  be  conveyed  in  song.  A  song  was  called  for 
by  him  of  the  big  nose,  who  seemed  to  be  the  oracle  of  the 
place.  "  A  song  !  a  song ! "  was  echoed  by  a  dozen  voices, 
and  the  bar-keeper,  who  seemed  to  be  entirely  devoted  to  the 
gratification  of  the  company,  prepared  to  answer  the  call.  A 
ring  was  at  once  formed,  when,  taking  his  place  in  the  centre, 
he  disburdened  his  mouth  of  an  enormous  quid  of  tobacco, 
and,  assuming  a  sort  of  dare-devil  expression  of  countenance, 
he  sung  as  follows,  while  "  Sir  Oracle,"  with  two  toddy-sticks, 
drummed  an  accompaniment  on  the  head  of  a  gin-cask,  which 
occupied  a  corner  of  the  apartment.  The  performance  was 
frequently  interrupted  by  loud  bursts  of  applause. 

"  Ye  tipplers  and  topers,  rejoice  ! 

And  ye  who  have  hats,  swing  them  high ; 
Shout !  join  every  tremulous  voice ; 
The  hour  of  our  triumph  is  nigh ;  — 

"  For  what  is  imported,  they  say, 

We  may  without  hinderance  sell, 
Though  it  slaughter  its  hundreds  a  day, 
And  hurl  its  consumers  to  hell. 

"  Come,  ye  who  can  stand,  join  the  ring, 

And  flutter  your  rags  in  the  dance ; 
Shout,  all !  and  exultingly  sing, 
Long  life  to  our  treaty  with  France  !  * 

From  laws  we  have  nothing  to  dread  ; 

They  are  unconstitutional,  all ; 
The  court  has  declared  it,  'tis  said  ; 

Then,  hurrah  for  liberty  !  bawl. 

*  It  was  argued  in  the  Supreme  Court  by  Mr.  C ,  that  our 

license  law  can  have  no  binding  force  while  our  treaty  with  France 
remains,  by  which  we  have  stipulated  to  receive  their  brandy,  when 
imported  in  Quantities  not  less  than  fifteen  gallons. 


160          THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY   OF    THE    LICENSE    LAW. 

"  We  had  giants  for  counsel  —  don't  fear  — 

We  had  W ,  and  H ,  and  C ; 

1  The  channels  of  commerce,'  *  they'll  clear 

From  our  wharves  to  the  poor  drunkard's  throat. 

"  Ha  !  ha  !  clear  the  track,  boys  —  we  come  ; 

Our  course  shall  astonish  the  nation  ; 
With  Brandy,  and  Whiskey,  and  Bum, 
We'll  give  them  hot  Hell's  irrigation,  f 

'  It  shall  flow  where  the  waters  now  flow, 

And  soon  its  effects  shall  be  seen  ; 
The  country  thus  moistened  shall  show 
A  color  much  darker  than  green. 

"  Ha  !  ha  !  it  shall  flow,  boys,  away, 

Through  every  township  and  village, 
Nor  tarry  by  night  or  by  day  ; 

And  the  Devil  will  look  to  the  tillage. 

"  Come,  ye  who  can  stand,  join  the  ring, 
And  flutter  your  rags  in  the  dance ; 
Shout,  all !  and  exultingly  sing, 
Long  life  to  our  treaty  with  France  !  " 


GLORIOUS    NEWS. 

THE  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in 
favor  of  the  constitutionality  of  the  license  laws  was  made 
public  during  the  month  of  March,  1847.  The  author  was  at 

*  Mr.  W used  the  following  language  in  his  plea  before  the 

Supreme  Court :  "  The  right  to  import  implies  the  right  to  sell,  to  the 
unrestricted  use  of  all  the  channels  of  commerce,  even  the  most  mi- 
nute, to  the  consumer." 

f  Mr.  W ,  in  speaking  of  the  diffusion  of  imported  articles 

through  the  community,  said,  "  They  flow  through  a  multitude  of 
channels,  like  irrigation."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  had  not  illus- 
trated his  view  of  the  diffusion  of  imported  articles,  especially  rum 
and  brandy,  by  reference  to  some  other  process  than  that  by  which 
our  fields  and  gardens  are  supplied  with  pure  water,  and  rendered 
green  and  fruitful. 


THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY    OF   THE    LICENSE    LAW.          161 

that  time  editing  a  paper  entitled  the  Temperance  Banner,  which 
was  published  at  Concord,  N.  H.,  as  the  organ  of  the  N.  H. 
State  Temperance  Society.  The  following  is  part  of  an  editorial 
article,  written  on  the  receipt  of  the  news  from  Washington :  — 

Certain  passages  in  human  life  contain  more  poetry  than  has 
ever  yet  been  expressed.  We  encountered  one  of  them  a  short 
time  since,  and  with  the  circumstances  we  must  make  our  readers 
acquainted. 

On  our  way  to  this  place  (Concord)  from  Boston  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  last  Monday,  and  before  we  had  reached  the  city  of 
Lowell,  a  little  pedler  of  papers  entered  the  car.  "  Morning 
papers,  gentlemen  !  Mail,  Bee,  Times,  Chronotype  !  "  Two 
or  three  coppers  were  soon  exchanged  for  the  morning  news, 
and  we  ran  our  eye  over  the  columns  with  a  double  purpose, 
one  for  the  latest  intelligence,  and  another  to  stop  a  too  busy 
memory  from  further  labor  in  pulling  over  her  budget  of  items. 
But  what  have  we  here?  "TELEGRAPHIC  DESPATCH  FROM 
WASHINGTON  ; "  and  in  the  brief  list  of  items  the  following  in 
capitals :  « THE  CONSTITUTIONALITY  OF  THE  LI- 
CENSE LAWS  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,  NEW  HAMP- 
SHIRE, AND  RHODE  ISLAND  DECLARED  BY  THE 
SUPREME  COURT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  OPIN- 
ION OF  THE  COURT  UNANIMOUS."  First  love,  and 
strawberries  and  cream,  are  delicious,  doubtless.  Food  to  the 
hungry,  and  water  to  the  thirsty  soul,  is  not  only  a  necessity  but 
a  joy  which  has  not  been  and  cannot  be  expressed.  But  what 
are  all  these  to  being  permitted  to  see  the  final  and  fatal  wound 
inflicted  on  a  giant  vampire,  hell-born,  and  nurtured  on  the  heart's 
blood  of  humanity  itself  ?  —  to  see  the  very  consolidation  and 
personification  of  all  conceivable  mischief  and  misery,  the 
genuine  spawn  of  the  pit,  whose  very  pastime  it  is  to  tread  with 
iron  heel  on  human  hearts,  and  trample  on  all  that  is  dear,  lovely, 
and  sacred  in  the  estimation  and  hopes  of  men  ;  the  mystery  of 
iniquity,  who  makes  his  provender  of  God's  most  glorious  work, 
and  when  his  daily  task  of  murder  is  done,  bathes  himself  in  an 
14* 


162         THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY  OF    THE    LICENSE    LAW. 

ocean  of  tears,  and  laughs  at  the  wreck  he  has  made  ;  —  to  see 
this  monster  driven  from  one  refuge  to  another,  by  man,  on 
whom  he  had  trampled,  and  the  providence  of  an  incensed  God, 
and  at  last  compelled  to  lay  his  scaly  neck  under  the  axe  of  the 
guillotine,  and  then  —  to  see  it  fall  and  shorten  him  the  length  of 
a  head! — O,  it  was  something  more  than  a  necessity,  a  joy 

boundless  and  unspeakable  —  it  was  a  glory  !  a ;  but  there 

is  no  word  to  express  it.  For  years  we  had,  in  companionship 
with  good  men,  battled  with  this  monster.  The  fight  had  been 
long,  earnest,  and  for  a  time  doubtful ;  but  now  a  fatal  blow 
had  been  given,  and  although  like  a  struck  whale  he  might 
flounder  and  make  the  waters  boil  around  him  like  a  pot,  yet 
we  had  the  infinite  satisfaction  of  believing  that,  in  the  whale- 
man's phrase,  "  his  chimneys  were  on  fire,"  and  that  every 
time  he  spouted,  his  heart's  blood  would  redden  the  ascending 
current.  Our  little  anxieties  and  regrets  were  for  a  time  forgot- 
ten. We  felt  as  though  we  could  address  to  Massachusetts  the 
language  of  one  of  old  :  "  Now  let  thy  servant  depart  in  peace." 
What  had  been  wanting  to  give  force  and  effect  to  the  blow  ? 
Nothing.  Delay  of  two  years  had  partially  interrupted  the  ju- 
dicial operations  of  four  states,  at  least.  It  had  tried  men's  souls, 
encouraged  the  vile  to  continue  in  their  vileness,  increased  the 
plague,  produced  discussion  every  where,  and  turned  all  eyes 
upon  the  subject ;  and  to  crown  all,  the  great  man  of  the  country, 
the  giant  intellect,  had  planned  and  had  pleaded  for  them.  They 
had  become  bold,  reckless,  and  impudent.  "  But  how  have  the 
mighty  fallen !  "  They  may  take  up  the  lamentation  of  titled 
but  fallen  greatness  in  "  Christopher  Caustic  : "  — 

"  From  heaven,  where  throned  like  Jove  I  sat, 
I'm  faUen,  fallen,  fallen  down,  flat,  flat,  flat !  !  !  " 

Yes,  sing  for  joy,  ye  drunkards'  wives,  worse  than  widows, 
scattered  over  the  land  by  thousands ;  sitting  by  deserted  hearths, 
and  shedding  bitter  tears  over  the  grave  which  the  fiend  dug  for 
your  fondest  hopes  and  most  cherished  expectations,  —  be  com- 
forted,—  dry  your  tears  and  sing!#  and  ye,  poor  young  things, 
who  have  been  made  to  hide  your  heads  with  shame  for  the 


THE    CONSTITUTIONALITY    OF   THE    LICENSE    LAW.          163 

dishonor  of  a  parent,  to  fly  from  the  face  of  your  own  father  in 
dread,  and  seek  at  the  hearths  of  strangers  the  food,  shelter,  and 
safety  which  home  denied,  — shout  for  gladness !  Shake  your 
scanty  and  tattered  garments  in  a  joyous  dance  !  The  day  of 
your  redemption  is  nigh.  Among  her  sister  states,  and  in  this 
long  and  severe  contest,  Massachusetts  has  led  the  van  ;  in  that 
ancient  commonwealth,  the  friends  and  supporters  of  the  rotten 
and  infamous  system  we  are  laboring  to  pull  down,  have,  since 
the  year  '40,  leaned  successively  on  three  props. 

Their  dogged  obstinacy  and  the  treason  of  some  of  our  friends, 
added  to  the  imbecility  and  cowardice  of  many  more,  had 
sacrificed  the  law  of  '38,  which  was  intended  to  cut  the  system 
up,  root  and  branch.  The  state  had  fallen  back  on  the  law, 
leaving  the  matter  of  granting  or  refusing  licenses  to  the  dis- 
cretion of  county  commissioners.  The  friends  of  temperance, 
having  their  way  hedged  up  in  one  direction,  turned  their  efforts 
in  another,  and  elected  commissioners  who  would  not  license, 
and  thus  gave  to  the  rum-sellers  and  their  abettors  all  the  benefits 
of  prohibition.  They  felt  the  earth  crumbling  beneath,  and 
cast  about  them  for  support  and  relief.  Their  first  expedient 
was  to  get  the  law  repealed,  as  they  had  done  the  law  of  '38. 
This  they  tried  for  two  sessions,  and  signally  failed.  Their 
next  hope  was  in  the  disagreement  of  juries.  This  succeeded 
for  a  time  ;  but  the  terrible  rebuke  administered  to  recreant 
jurors  by  their  fellow-citizens,  when  they  returned  to  their  homes, 
soon  checked  that  operation,  and  their  second  prop  went  ly  the 
board.  They  had  one  hope  left  —  one  shot  in  their  locker  —  an 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court ;  and  the  decision,  which  fee-loving 
lawyers  had  encouraged  them  to  hope  for,  viz.,  the  unconsti- 
tutionality  of  our  state  laws.  That  shot  has  at  length  been 
discharged,  and  with  a  terrible  rebound  has  fallen  with  crushing 
weight  upon  their  own  heads.  They  may  now  howl  forth  their 
doleful  lamentation, — 

"While  troubles  thronged  on  every  side,  we,  as  a  last  resort, 
Had  turned  our  eyes,  with  grief  inflamed,  up  to  the  Supreme  Court ; 
But  howl,  ye  fiends  !  let  hell  wear  black ! !  that  sun  went  down  at  noon  : 
Curse  on  those  judges'  judgment !  !  they  have  blown  us  to  the  moon. 


164  BETTER    TOOLS    WANTED. 

But  we  must  rein  up  our  quill  which  joy  and  exultation  have 
driven  upon  the  gallop  over  this  fruitful  theme.  The  way  is 
now  fairly  open  for  the  states  to  rid  themselves  by  efficient 
laws  of  the  giant  curse  of  the  civilized  world.  We  offer  our 
hearty  congratulations  to  every  friend  of  temperance,  truth,  and 
man. 


BETTER  TOOLS  WANTED. 

LOWELL,  July  26,  1845. 
FRIEND  KIMBALL  :  — 

I  HAVE  just  returned  to  my  lodgings,  having  addressed  a 
large  congregation  of  the  people  of  this  city,  in  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Miner's  church.  I  am  to  speak  to-morrow  in  the  great  hall 
near  the  depot,  which  will  constitute  my  fourth,  and  probably 
my  last,  public  exercise  in  this  city  for  the  present.  If  I  am 
not  altogether  mistaken  in  my  present  view  of  the  state  of 
the  temperance  cause  in  this  city,  it  is  by  no  means  dis- 
couraging. True,  drunkenness  is  on  the  increase,  and  has  been 
for  some  months.  But  why  ?  There  are  at  present,  in  the 
estimation  of  the  people,  insurmountable  obstacles  to  the  success- 
ful employment  of  the  only  instrumentality  in  which  they  place 
ANY  confidence  as  a  means  of  suppressing  that  vice.  The  great 
mass  of  the  men  of  Lowell  are  mechanics,  and  can  shrewdly 
calculate  the  comparative  strength  of  impelling  and  reacting 
forces.  You  cannot  persuade  them  to  attempt  filing  away  the 
rough  surface  of  a  piece  of  cast  steel  with  a  leaden  file,  or  even 
a  brass  one.  They  know  it  will  not  cut.  You  cannot  induce 
them  by  any  art  to  attempt  hewing  a  stick  of  timber  with  a  stone 
sledge  or  a  hammer.  Experience  has  taught  them  wisdom,  and 
however  desirable  it  may  be  to  square  a  round  stick  of  timber, 
they  will  not  work  unless  you  give  them  an  instrument  that  will 
cut.  They  must  see  the  chips  fly  at  every  stroke,  or  they  will 
give  up  the  job.  So  in  the  matter  of  temperance.  The  people 
will  not  work  with  inefficient  instruments.  They  declare  that 


BETTER    TOOLS    WANTED.  165 

the  traffic,  being  illegal,  having  been  publicly  and  repeatedly 
condemned  to  death,  ought  to  be  stopped  by  the  legal  authority 
of  Massachusetts  ;  and  whenever  any  work  is  to  be  done  for  the 
temperance  cause  that  tends,  without  any  possibility  of  mistake, 
directly  to  that  end,  the  people  will  turn  out  en  masse  and  do 
it.  They  would,  on  Monday  next,  or  any  other  day  of  the 
week,  or  hour  of  the  day,  turn  out  by  thousands,  if  desired,  and 
delegate  to  the  civil  authorities  any  degree  of  power  in  their 
gift,  in  addition  to  what  the  authorities  now  possess,  and  direct 
them  to  employ  it  forthwith  for  the  annihilation  of  a  system  they 
hate  with  a  perfect  hatred.  We  must  have  a  more  efficient 
law,  the  penalties  of  which  shall  be  in  some  degree  proportion- 
ate to  the  magnitude  of  the  offence  —  a  law  which  shall  do 
something  more  than  play  with  the  infernal  system.  With  such 
an  instrument  in  their  hands,  the  friends  of  temperance  in  Lowell 
will  take  hold  of  the  work  again  in  earnest.  They  seem  to  have 
little  faith,  at  the  present  juncture,  in  other  instrumentalities. 

Exhort  them  to  plead  with  the  young  men  not  to  taste  the 
seductive  poison — they  answer,  that  all  past  experience  and 
observation  prove  to  a  demonstration,  that  exhortation  and  good 
counsel  will  fail,  when  the  avenues  to  the  vice  are  kept  open  in 
every  street,  and  efforts  unceasingly  made  to  induce  the  thought- 
less and  inexperienced  to  enter.  Exhort  them  to  make  efforts 
to  reform  the  drunkard,  to  be  charitable,  and  put  bread  on  his 
table,  and  clothes  on  his  back,  and  induce  him  to  live  henceforth 
a  temperate  life,  —  they  will  tell  you  they  have  done  this,  and 
will  continue  to  do  it ;  but  they  will  add,  with  an  expression  of 
sadness,  "  What  is  the  use  ?  The  rum-sellers  will  get  a  vast 
majority  of  them  back  again,  and  are  constantly  converting  our 
voung  men  into  drunkards,  and  training  them  to  take  the  places 
of  those  we  are  reforming."  All  this  is  true  ;  and  when  they 
ask  those  of  us  who  are  endeavoring  to  urge  them  forward  in 
what  we  believe  to  be  the  path  of  duty,  the  puzzling  question, 
"  Where  is  the  end  of  this  ?"  we  know  not  what  to  reply.  Could 
we  answer  in  the  language  addressed  by  old  Colonel  Morgan  to 
his  troops  at  the  battle  of  the  Cowpens,  "  One  fire  more,  my 


166  INCONSISTENCIES    OF 

heroes,  and  the  day  is  our  own ! "  our  cold  water  host  would  send 
up  a  shout  that  would  make  the  heavens  ring  and  the  earth 
tremble,  and  would  move  to  the  onset  with  a  power  which  nothing 
could  resist.  But  what  avails  it  to  urge  them  forward  to  pelt 
with  snow-balls  an  enemy  intrenched  behind  brick  walls  ?  The 
valor  of  a  Hotspur  or  a  Hector,  the  strength  of  a  Samson  or  an 
Ajax,  would  avail  nought.  But  put  into  their  hands  weapons  in 
the  temper  of  which  they  have  confidence,  and  they  will  show 
themselves  men  —  they  will  hurl  the  accursed  system  back  to 
the  hell  from  which  it  originated.  Who  will  fight  a  tiger  with 
a  penknife  ?  Who  will  attempt  to  pierce  the  scaly  hide  of  an 
alligator  with  a  broomstick  ?  I  repeat,  we  must  have  a  more 
efficient  law. 


INCONSISTENCIES  OF    PROFESSED    FRIENDS    OF 
TEMPERANCE. 

TEMPERANCE  is  often  sorely  wounded  in  the  house  of  its 
friends  ;  and  painful  as  is  the  task  of  administering  reproof,  yet 
I  shall  attempt  it,  even  at  the  hazard  of  displeasing  many 
whom,  in  the  main,  I  have  reason  to  respect.  Breaking  the 
package  of  inconsistencies,  the  first  that  comes  to  hand  is  that 
most  extraordinary  and  inexcusable  one,  of  which  many,  even 
members  of  temperance  societies,  are  guilty  —  letting  public 
houses  and  shops  with  the  permission  to  carry  on  the  detesta- 
ble and  destructive  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  within  their 
doors.  What  renders  such  a  course  of  conduct  altogether 
inexcusable  in  those  who  practise  it  is  the  fact  that  they  are 
generally  men  of  wealth,  who  might,  without  serious  incon- 
venience, let  their  estates  for  other  purposes,  or  who,  if  they 
could  not,  would  not  eat  less  bread  or  sleep  less  hours  if  they 
stood  untenanted.  Yet  many  there  are  who  will  condemn  the 
conduct  of  the  heartless  rum-seller,  although  he  offers  as  an 
excuse  his  necessities,  and  can  quote  Scripture  to  enforce  the 
duty  of  providing  for  "  one's  household,"  and  talks  about  ruin, 


INCONSISTENCIES    OF    TEMPERANCE    FRIENDS.  167 

distress,  &c.,  if  he  cease  to  ruin  others  ;  and  yet  they  will  let 
their  tavern  or  shop  for  a  slaughter-house  of  souls,  for  an 
additional  rent  of  ten,  twenty,  or  fifty  dollars,  when,  I  repeat, 
of  property  they  have  enough  for  present  and  prospective 
wants,  and  perhaps  a  surplus  sufficient  to  ruin  their  children. 
In  what  consists  the  guilt  of  the  rum-seller  ?  Is  it  not  that  he 
furnishes  to  vice  facilities,  to  crime  its  incitants  ?  And  does  ^ 
not  the  lessor  of  the  grog-shop  afford  to  vice  facilities,  and  to 
crime  means  and  opportunity?  The  day  will  come,  — or  I 
sadly  mistake  the  signs  of  the  times,  —  when  he  who  furnishes 
the  room  in  which  drunkards  and  tipplers  may  congregate  to 
gratify  their  base  appetites,  will  be,  in  the  estimation  of  the 
public,  bound  in  the  same  bundle  with  him  who  pours  to  them 
poison  for  money.  How  can  any  professed  friend  of  the 
cause,  who  is  guilty  of  the  conduct  I  have  described,  plead 
with  the  rum-seller  or  rum-drinker  to  change  his  course  ?  He 
dare  not  attempt  it.  They  would  both  taunt  him  with  his 
inconsistency. 

Would  that  this  were  the  only  obstacle  which  the  friends  of 
our  cause,  influenced  by  the  love  of  money,  throw  in  the  path 
of  reform.  But  it  is  not.  Another  more  formidable  may  be 
found  in  the  fact,  that  many,  very  many,  so  far  as  my  obser- 
vation extends,  even  of  the  members  of  our  total  abstinence 
societies,  are  constantly  in  the  habit  of  trading  at  rum  stores, 
having  their  sugar,  tea,  spices,  &c.,  put  up  by  the  same  hands 
that  pour  out  the  maddening  draught  to  the  poor  drunkard. 
They  condemn  his  business  in  unmeasured  terms,  and  yet 
help  to  sustain  him  in  that  business.  They  pour  into  his 
drawer  the  profits  of  their  trade,  which,  in  due  time,  are 
exchanged  for  rum,  gin,  &c.,  with  which  his  decanters  are 
replenished  ;  and  so  the  work  goes  on.  Were  the  temperance 
community  to  withdraw  their  patronage  altogether,  arid  leave 
him  to  the  support  of  his  rum  customers,  he  could  not,  in  most 
of  our  country  towns  at  least,  sustain  himself;  and  if  forced  by 
the  consistency  of  temperance  men  to  part  with  his  rum  trade, 
or  their  patronage,  he  would  empty  his  bottles,  and  cease  to 


168  TEMPERANCE   PAPERS. 

order  from  your  city  hogsheads  of  wretchedness,  crime, 
disease,  and  death,  to  peddle  in  the  beautiful  villages  and  towns 
of  the  interior. 

The  business  of  destroying  God's  bounties  and  human 
hopes,  so  extensively  carried  on  by  some  bloated  capitalists  of 
your  city,  would  soon  become  as  unprofitable  as  it  is  infamous. 
The  excuses  for  such  a  course  of  conduct  generally  are,  that 
it  is  more  convenient  to  trade  at  the  rum  store,  because  it 
is  nearer,  or  that  the  articles  they  wish  to  obtain  can  be 
purchased  cheaper  of  the  rum-seller  than  at  the  tempe- 
rance store.  Of  any  who  may  offer  such  an  excuse  I  would 
ask,  What  then  ?  Suppose  the  rum-seller  continue  his  trade 
on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  inconvenient  for  him  to  change 
his  business,  or  that  it  would  subject  him  to  pecuniary  loss 
were  he  to  abandon  it  ?  Shall  he  go  on  ?  O,  no  !  You  will 
not  consent  that  his  convenience  or  profit  shall  be  taken  into 
account  in  deciding  his  future  course.  You  demand  that  he 
give  up  his  business,  perhaps  at  a  loss  of  five  hundred  or  a 
thousand  dollars  per  year  ;  and  yet,  if  he  refuse  to  do  so,  and 
continue  to  exert  his  influence  to  curse  the  community  in 
which  you  live,  you  will  sustain  him  in  his  course  by  the 
profits  and  influence  of  your  trade  to  save  a  half-mile's  travel, 
or  a  cent  on  a  pound  in  the  purchase  of  your  sugar.  These 
things  ought  not  to  be ;  and  we  earnestly  entreat  those 
who  may  peruse  this  article,  to  examine  themselves  in  refer- 
ence to  this  particular,  and  if  they  have  been  faulty  in  time 
past,  be  careful  that  their  whole  influence  in  future  shall  be 
given  to  the  promotion  of  our  glorious  cause. 


TEMPERANCE    PAPERS. 

WE  are  grieved,  and  sometimes  not  a  little  vexed,  to  hear 
temperance  men,  when  asked  to  subscribe  for  a  temperance 
paper,  excuse  themselves  thus :  "  Why,  I  take  so  many  papers 
now  that  I  cannot  find  time  to  read  half  they  contain ;  and 


TEMPERANCE    PAPERS.  169 

besides,  it  is  of  no  use  for  me  to  read  them,  for  I  am  a  tem- 
perance man  already."  Yet  the  gentleman  must  have  his  reli- 
gious paper,  and  that  too  of  his  own  sect,  and  perhaps  his  politi- 
cal paper,  and  will  scold  lustily  if  they  do  not  reach  him  at  the 
very  hour  he  has  a  right  to  expect  them.  Ask,  now,  why  he 
wishes  to  take  the  paper  which  is  the  organ  of  the  Baptists,  or 
Congregationalists,  or,  if  a  politician,  why  he  takes  the  whig 
or  democratic  paper,  and  he  answers  promptly  that  he  is  a 
Baptist,  or  a  Congregational ist;  or,  if  a  politician,  that  he  is 
a  whig,  or  democrat ;  and,  of  course,  wishes  to  know  what  is 
going  forward  that  may  interest  his  sect  or  political  party 
Now,  for  the  same  reason  every  temperance  man  should  take 
and  read  a  temperance  paper,  that  may  keep  him  informed 
of  whatever  is  going  on  of  interest  to  the  cause.  This  great 
cause  is  constantly  presenting  itself  in  a  new  aspect.  Should 
not  a  temperance  man  view  it  in  all  its  aspects  ? 

The  determination  to  use  or  not  to  use  intoxicating  drink  as 
a  beverage  is  a  simple  act  of  the  will ;  yet  upon  that  act  hang 
immense  consequences  for  good  or  for  evil.  The  temperance 
question  has  to  do  with  all  the  great  interests  of  society, 
pecuniary,  social,  political,  moral,  and  religious.  Is  it  likely 
that  an  individual  will  be  capable  of  pressing  upon  the  con- 
sideration of  his  fellow-citizens,  as  he  comes  in  contact  with 
them,  all  the  motives  which  might  contribute  to  lead  them  to  a 
right  decision  on  this  subject,  who  yet  himself  has  not  interest 
enough  in  the  cause  to  subscribe  for  and  read  a  temperance 
paper  ?  We  have  been  acquainted  with  a  great  many  tem- 
perance men,  and  we  never  knew  a  thorough  working  man  to 
complain  that  he  could  not  get  time  to  read  a  temperance 
paper.  Besides,  we  have  eveiy  now  and  then  heart-cheering 
intelligence  to  communicate.  Should  not  every  temperance 
man  wish  to  obtain  the  good  news  as  early  as  possible  ? 
15 


170  TEMPERANCE    SUGAR   ALE. 


"TEMPERANCE   SUGAR    ALE." 

"  THIS  pleasant  and  healthful  drink  is  made  from  articles 
that  the  most  temperate  can  find  no  objection  to.  It  will 
quench  the  th?rst,  and  leaves  a  pleasant  taste.  Persons  who 
find  other  drinks  hurtful,  need  have  no  fear  of  the  TEMPERANCE 
SUGAR  ALE.  Warranted  to  keep  two  months." 

A  handbill,  beautifully  executed,  of  which  the  foregoing  is 
a  copy,  attracted  our  attention,  a  few  days  sigce,  at  one  of 
the  fruit  stands  in  our  city.  We  asked  the  privilege  of  ex- 
amining this  innocent  article,  being  particularly  struck  witb 
the  import  of  the  words  "  Warranted  to  keep  two  months." 
A  moment's  examination  satisfied  us  entirely  as  to  its  true 
character  —  that  it  was  one  step  (and  for  the  first,  we  should 
say,  a  pretty  long  one)  in  the  process  by  which  the  ordinary 
small  beer  is  to  be  converted  into  pretty  stiff  ale. 

This  is  precisely  what  we  have  anticipated.  "  Temperance 
Beer,"  "  Washingtonian  Mead,"  and  the  like,  salute  our  eyes 
as  often  as  we  unfold  the  pages  of  temperance  exchanges,  as 
well  as  other  journals  of  the  day  not  especially  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  temperance.  We  have  often  asked  ourselves,  wifh 
some  degree  of  anxiety,  To  what  will  this  amount  in  the  end  ? 
We  venture  now  to  answer  aloud,  that  the  alcoholic  strength 
of  these  drinks  will  be  increased  from  time  to  time  by  the 
addition  of  the  article  which  occupies  so  prominent  a  place  in 
the  above  handbill,  namely,  sugar,  until  they  will  satisfy  the 
most  depraved  appetite.  Every  temperance  man  should  know 
that  the  increase  of  sugar,  or  any  other  saccharine  matter, 
before,  will  secure  an  additional  amount  of  alcohol  after  fer- 
mentation. And  he  should  remember  that  alcohol  and  othei 
narcotics,  which  are  frequently  added  to  intoxicating  drinks, 
together  constitute  the  enemy  against  which  we  are  warring. 
4<  Made  from  articles  that  the  most  temperate  can  have  no 
objection  to  !  "  So  is  rum.  So  is  gin.  So  is  cider.  What 
temperance  man  will  find  fault  with  molasses,  or  grain,  or 


BUYING    OFF    RUM-SELLERS.  171 

apples  ?  It  is  to  the  pernicious  beverage  manufactured  from 
these  articles  we  make  objection,  and  not  to  the  articles  them- 
selves. "  Warranted  to  keep  two  months"  Why  ?  Because 
there  \a  enough  alcohol  to  keep  it !  Washingtonians,  beware  ! 
Temperance  men  of  all  classes,  beware  !  Drink  cold  water, 
and  you  will  be  safe.  Remember  that  with  every  glass  of 
fermented  drinks  you  swallow,  you  are  receiving  alcohol  into 
your  constitution.  Especially  beware  of  such  as  contain 
alcohol  enough  to  preserve  them  in  warm  weather  two  months, 
of  even  a  single  week. 


BUYING   OFF    RUM-SELLERS. 

I  NAMED as  one  of  the  towns  that  had  abolished  the 

traffic  ;  but  they  have  done  it  in  a  way  that  I  certainly  should 
not  recommend  to  others.  They  have  bought  off  the  rum- 
seller.  In  other  words,  they  have  paid  one  half  the  rent  —  one 
hundred  dollars  —  to  have  the  tavern  in  their  village  kept 
on  temperance  principles.  They  have  been,  therefore,  for 
the  present  year,  thus  far  rid  of  the  curse  ;  but  it  has  not 
corrected  the  depraved  appetite  of  the  drinkers.  They  drink 
still,  procuring  it  from  other  quarters,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  friends,  in  this  effort  to  remove  the  evil,  have  so  far 
exhausted  their  means,  that  they  do  not  feel  able  to  secure  the 
aid  of  those  moral  influences  on  which  they  must  mainly 
depend.  That  hundred  dollars,  judiciously  expended  in  the 
town  in  sustaining  a  regular  series  of  meetings  in  its  different 
sections,  and  in  sending  the  truth  into  every  family  through 
the  medium  of  temperance  publications,  would,  in  the  course 
of  twelve  months,  have  produced  results,  we  doubt  not,  that 
would  have  rejoiced  all  hearts  but  the  rum-sellers',  and  gone 
far  to  secure  the  permanent  triumph  of  temperance  in  the 
town. 

But  now,  when  the  year  is  out,  the  taverner  will  expect  another 
hundred  dollars ;  the  friends  wil  not  feel  able  to  give  it ;  and 


172  DRINKING    SALOONS. 

that  house,  I  fear,  will  again  become  the  resort  of  such  as  love 
rum,  and  they  will  be  supplied.  I  had  an  interview  with  the 
individual  who  now  keeps  the  tavern,  and  I  could  give  our 

friends   some   information  which  might  be  useful  to 

them.  I  have  no  confidence  in  this  hiring  Satan  to  grant  us  a 
little  respite  from  the  influences  of  his  hellish  arts.  No  com- 
promises, say  I,  with  rum-sellers.  Let  them  abandon  the  trade 
from  moral  considerations ;  or,  in  the  Washingtonian  method, 
be  starved  out  by  the  withdrawal  of  patronage,  and  the  refor- 
mation of  their  supporters  ;  or,  let  the  law  of  the  land  sternly 
repeat  to  them  the  law  of  God,  "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  and 
visit  them  with  its  severest  penalties  if  they  disobey.  These 
are  the  measures  I  would  recommend,  but  no  buying  off. 


DRINKING   SALOONS. 

WE  have  again  visited  Brigham's  Saloon,  and  the  opinion 
we  have  already  expressed  of  its  influence,  and  that  of  other 
similar  establishments,  remains  unchanged.  It  is  splendid,  to 
be  sure.  Its  carpeted  halls,  magnificent  mirrors,  and  elegant 
furniture,  strike  the  eye  with  an  imposing  effect,  and  almost 
make  the  visitor  forget,  for  a  moment,  that  he  is  in  a  grog- 
shop —  for  such,  with  all  its  embellishments,  it  really  is.  The 
exhibition  of  taste  in  such  an  establishment  is  like  spreading 
vermilion  tints  on  the  face  of  the  dying,  or  like  twining  fan- 
tastic wreaths  around  the  frame-work  of  the  guillotine  or  the 
gallows.  Such  an  establishment  is  the  upper  round  of  a 
ladder,  whose  foot  rests  in  the  drunkard's  grave.  The  elegant 
lanterns  in  front  of  it  light  the  street,  to  be  sure  ;  but  that  light 
is  like  the  beacon  flame  which  the  wrecker  kindles  on  the 
rocky  shore,  to  lure  the  unsuspecting  mariner  to  destruction. 
Since  our  first  visit,  an  additional  saloon  has  been  fitted  up  for 
ladies.  Yes,  ladies,  go  there  if  you  will,  or  to  other  places  of 
like  character,  and  patronize  them,  give  them  the  countenance 


PRELIMINARIES    IN    TEMPERANCE    MEETINGS.  173 

of  your  presence,  and  help  to  sustain  them,  —  but  when  a 
husband  has  spent  his  fortune  by  a  career  of  dissipation,  and 
you  sit  by  your  cheerless  hearth,  and  weep  over  your  blasted 
hopes  and  present  wretchedness,  remember  that  your  own 
example  sustained  the  curse  that  has  ruined  him  and  you. 


PRELIMINARY    EXERCISES    IN    TEMPERANCE 
MEETINGS. 

IN  the  discharge  of  our  religious,  social,  or  relative  duties, 
it  is  not  enough  that  we  be  sincere,  zealous,  devoted,  and  per- 
severing :  expediency,  fitness,  and  propriety  should  ever  be 
consulted.  We  are  aware  that  by  using  the  word  expediency 
we  may  expose  ourselves  to  the  animadversion  of  some  of 
those  concentrated,  but  locomotive  abstractions,  who  are 
engaged  in  the  benevolent  enterprises  of  the  day,  and  who 
are  thrown  into  spasms  at  the  use  of  such  a  term.  But  St. 
Paul  was  not  afraid  to  use  the  term  expediency,  and  it  is  as 
expressive  and  valuable  now  as  when  uttered  by  the  lips  of  an 
inspired  apostle.  There  is  real  occasion  at  the  present  time 
to  repeat,  in  the  hearing  of  temperance  reformers,  "  All  things 
are  not  expedient." 

In  relation  to  the  exercises  which  are  frequently  connected 
with  our  temperance  meetings,  both  introductory  and  con- 
cluding, there  should  be,  according  to  our  notions,  a  little  more 
attention  to  fitness  and  propriety  ;  and  here,  as  well  as  in  rela- 
tion to  every  other  subject  connected  with  the  reform,  we  shall, 
without  reserve,  utter  our  opinions. 

Meetings  are  generally  commenced  with  prayer,  or  at  least 
prayer  from  some  one  precedes  the  address  ;  and  in  this  ex- 
ercise there  is  often  a  want  of  attention  to  fitness.  Whoever 
is  to  lead  in  the  exercise  should  so  lead  that  the  thoughts  and 
inspirations  of  every  praying  soul  in  the  assembly  will  natural- 
ly accompany  him ;  and  to  secure  this  end,  he  should  pray  for 
15* 


174  IN    TROUBLE. 

the  specific  object  sought  in  coming  together.  The  mind  of 
every  good  man  present  is  filled  with  that  object,  and  while  h& 
who  leads  in  this  exercise  devoutly  prays  for  the  recovery  of 
the  poor  drunkard  —  that  joy  and  comfort  may  once  more 
visit  the  inmates  of  his  wretched  home  —  that  the  traffic  which 
is  the  fruitful  source  of  evil  may  cease  —  that  the  rising 
generation  may  be  protected  from  the  woes  of  intemperance  — 
that  the  exercises  of  the  present  occasion  may  promote  the 
advancement  of  the  cause,  the  aspirations  of  every  praying 
soul  will  accompany  his  utterance  ;  and  thus,  from  the  united 
throng,  there  will  ascend  to  God  a  sincere  and  heartfelt  peti- 
tion —  the  only  one  he  will  deign  to  hear  or  answer.  But  if, 
on  the  contrary,  the  clergyman,  or  whoever  else  leads  in  this 
exercise,  wanders  in  his  petition  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  or 
devoutly  prays  for  the  restoration  of  the  Jews,  he  alone  asks 
for  those  objects  ;  the  thoughts  of  the  assembly  are  elsewhere, 
and  cannot  accompany  his  utterance  with  th?t  deep  feeling 
and  earnest  desire,  which,  united  to  living  faith,  alone  can 
constitute  prevailing  prayer. 


IN   TROUBLE. 

"  And  forward  though  I  canna  see, 
I  guess  and  fear/'  BURNS. 

THOSE  who  are  now  engaged  in  the  rum  traffic  within  the 
limits  of  our  ancient  and  honorable  commonwealth,  are,  just, 
now,  in  great  straits,  more  particularly  in  the  country  towns. 
The  more  decent  of  those  who  like  a  drop  now  and  then,  are 
ashamed  to  sit  around  the  bar-room  fire,  as  formerly.  They 
lay  their  fourpence  on  the  altar  of  their  chosen  deity,  and, 
receiving  their  portion  of  the  devil's  sacramental  cup,  depart, 
leaving,  as  the  companions  of  the  landlord,  such  only  as  are 
lost  to  shame,  and  utterly  heedless  of  the  good  or  evil  opinion 
of  their  fellow-men.  The  company  of  this  last  class,  the 


IN    TROUBLE.  175 

'oafers,  is  endured  by  the  taverner  or  trader  only  for  the  sake 
of  their  patronage,  while  their  bloated  faces,  carbuncled  noses, 
and  tattered  garments,  exhibited  at  the  windows,  and  within  or 
about  the  doorway,  operate  like  so  many  scarecrows  upon  the 
uninitiated.  Then,  again,  the  efforts  of  reformed  men  trouble 
the  modern  rum-seller  exceedingly,  as  they  catch,  from  time  to 
time,  one  after  another  of  his  customers,  and  convert  them, 
with  the  blessing  of  God,  the  help  of  good  men,  and  the  magic 
of  the  pledge,  to  stanch  tetotallers.  If  he  goes  out  to  spend 
the  evening  with  the  family  of  a  neighbor,  some  one  of  the 
little  circle  will  often  be  troubling  his  conscience  with  argu- 
ments against  his  business  and  efforts  for  his  conversion.  If 
he  goes  to  church,  he  is  made  unhappy  while  the  preacher 
refers  to  his  business,  as  affording  evidence  of  terrible  depravi- 
ty. He  goes  to  town  meeting,  and  the  passage  of  a  vote  to 
instruct  the  selectmen  not  to  approbate  any  one  for  a  license, 
is  not  a  balm  to  his  wounded  spirit.  His  hope  is  now  in  the 
county  commissioners.  But  before  that  honorable  court  he 
meets  a  committee  to  oppose  his  having  a  license,  and  is 
repulsed.  Cursing  his  bad  fortune  and  the  cold  water  men, 
he  wends  his  way  home,  determined  to  sell  in  spite  of  the 
laws  of  God  or  man.  Presently  the  sheriff  taps  him  on  the 
shoulder,  and  he  must  appear  before  his  betters.  Some  of  his 
customers  are  not  quite  so  hardened  as  he  had  hoped  ;  they 
tell  the  truth  under  oath,  and  a  smart  fine  or  the  jail  is  now 
the  only  alternative.  He  forks  over  the  cash,  and  finds  his 
name  the  next  day  in  the  newspaper,  on  the  list  of  persons 
convicted  at  the  late  session  of  the  county  court,  and  in  com- 
pany with  burglars  counterfeiters,  pickpockets,  et  id  omne 
genus.  "  The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard." 


176      GAMBLING    AND    INTEMPERANCE. AMUSING    SCENE 


GAMBLING    AND    INTEMPERANCE. 

THE  Siamese  twins  are  not  more  closely  linked  together 
than  are  these  two  master  vices  of  mankind.  You  cannot 
strike  a  blow  at  one  of  them  but  the  other  immediately  throws 
itself  into  an  attitude  of  defence.  They  mutually  aid  and 
support  each  other,  and  a  complete  victory  cannot  be  gained 
over  the  one  while  the  other  exists  to  any  considerable  extent. 
Gaming  apparatus,  such  as  bowling-alleys  and  cards,  or 
the  beer  and  cider  of  that  vice  —  dominoes  and  checker- 
boards—  are,  if  not  indispensable  to  the  bar-room  or  grog-shop, 
are  at  least  important  auxiliaries.  After  a  tippler  has  taken  a 
glass  or  two,  he  must  have  some  sort  of  amusement  to  while 
away  or  kill  time,  until  he  is  again  thirsty.  If  there  are  not 
pot-house  politicians  present,  to  engage  his  attention  with  a 
discussion  of  national  politics,  no  tippling,  fiddling  Sambo  or 
Jim  Crow  singer,  to  charm  him  with  grindstone  melody  or 
screech-owl  sentiment  and  song,  then  the  checker-board, 
dominoes,  or  a  roll  'j\  the  alley  for  the  next  drink,  passes  the 
hour  quite  pleasantly,  and  serve  well  to  whet  the  appetite 
for  other  stimulants,  not  very  different  in  their  debasing, 
brutalizing  nature,  but  differing  only  in  kind  and  degree. 
While  gaming  is  thus,  in  the  dram-shop,  contributing  to  the 
destructive  influence  of  intoxicating  drinks,  these  latter  are 
paying  the  debt  in  the  gambling  hells,  by  taking  away  from 
thoughtless  men  their  reason,  making  them  reckless,  and 
fitting  them  to  become  the  easy  dupes  and  victims  of  the 
professed  gambler  and  blackleg. 


AN    AMUSING    SCENE. 

THE   cause   of  temperance   has   made   rapid  advances  in 
within  the  year  past.     The  whole  rank  and  file  of  the 


enemy  were  thrown,  not  long  since,  into  most  admirable  con« 


AN    AMUSING    SCENE.  177 

fusion,  by  the  action  of  the  selectmen  in  refusing  to  grant 
approbations  for  license.  The  town  election  was  nigh  at  hand, 
and  it  was  determined  to  test  the  sense  of  the  town  on  the 
subject,  and  see  whether  the  majority  would  sanction  or 
repudiate  the  act  of  the  selectmen.  Those  who,  from  appetite, 
interest,  or  whatever  motive,  were  led  to  desire  the  contin- 
uance of  the  rum  traffic  in  town,  went  to  the  meeting  all  agog, 
and  earnest  for  the  trial.  A  division  of  the  house  was  called 
for,  and  a  separation  promptly  effected  between  alcohol  and 
water,  without  the  aid  of  retort  or  copper  kettle.  "  Those  in 
favor  of  sustaining  the  selectmen  in  the  course  they  have 
taken  concerning  licenses,  will  take  the  west  side  of  the 
house,"  said  the  moderator,  "  and  those  of  contrary  mind  will 
take  the  east."  Then  came  the  tug  of  war !  No  evasion,  no 
concealment  of  sentiments  or  wishes,  for  any  one  who  voted. 
What  was  a  man  to  do  who  regarded  his  character,  from  whose 
soul  the  love  of  rum,  or  the  love  of  pence,  had  not  extinguished 
all  sense  of  justice,  all  regard  for  the  prosperity  of  the  town,  or 
the  welfare  of  its  inhabitants  ?  Most  fortunately,  there  was  a 
door  on  the  side  of  the  house  occupied  by  the  miscalled  liberals. 
Let  them  devoutly  thank  their  stars  for  once !  To  the  door 
numbers  of  them  rushed  ;  and, 

"  As  bees  bizz  out  wi'  angry  fyke, 
When  plundering  herds  assail  their  byke," 

so  eagerly  rushed  they  out,  glad  to  escape  for  once,  having 
their  own  noses  counted  with  some  others,  about  the  complex- 
ion of  a  ripe  strawberry.  The  count  gave  fifty  for  rum,  one 
.Hundred  and  seven  for  water  —  more  than  two  to  one.  Our  new 
friends  and  faithful  allies,  the  Washingtonians,  stood  side  by  side 
with  the  old  regulars,  and  together  they  triumphed.  Let  no 

one  henceforth  deny  that  there  is  a  distillery  in ,  one 

\hat  separates  rum  from  water, 

Quicker  by  far,  than  some  desire, 
'  "Without  the  aid  of  worm  or  fire. 


178  A    TRIBUTE    TO    MASSACHUSETTS. PROPHECY. 

A  TRIBUTE  TO  MASSACHUSETTS. -PROPHECY. 

WOODBTJRY,  CONX.,  Nov.  26,  1845. 
FRIEND  KIMBALL  :  — • 

I  WOULD  that  I  could  be  with  you  the  day  after  to-morrow-. 
It  is  the  day  set  apart  by  the  executive  of  Massachusetts  for 
special  thanksgiving  to  God  ;  and  if  ever  there  existed  a  people 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  who  have  cause  for  devout  thanksgiving, 
then  have  the  people  of  Massachusetts  cause.  What,  that  is 
necessary  for  social  comfort,  intellectual  development,  or  moral 
greatness,  have  they  not  ?  I  shall  not  attempt  here  to  recount 
the  blessings  which  a  merciful  God  has  showered  thickly  upon 
the  state  of  your  nativity  and  my  adoption.  Your  paper  could 
not  contain  the  record.  As  its  citizens  number  over  the  many 
gifts  of  divine  goodness,  may  they  be  able,  with  the  devout 
Addison,  to  add, 

"  Nor  is  the  least  a  cheerful  heart, 
Which  tastes  those  gifts  with  joy." 

More  than  any  other  state  in  the  Union,  Massachusetts  is 
"  the  observed  of  all  observers."  She  stands  on  a  hill,  m  a 
moral  point  of  view,  and  her  light  cannot  be  hid.  I  glory  in 
the  moral  influence  she  exerts,  and  I  would  that,  on  her  own 
soil,  1  could,  at  her  annual  thanksgiving  festival,  join  my 
hum  jle  voice  with  those  of  her  citizens  who  may  swell  the  song 
of  giutitude  and  joy.  The  kindness  and  hospitality  of  her 
citizens,  during  the  last  seven  years,  to  me  personally,  and  my 
high  opinion  of  their  moral  virtues,  have  together  forged  a  chain 
which  will  forever  bind  me  to  the  soil  whereon  stands  the  little 
cot  I  call  home. 

Here,  in  my  native  state,  Connecticut,  I  am  treated  with 
kindness,  and  I  find  here  much  to  admire,  respect,  and  love  ; 
and  yet  I  can  say  of  the  old  Bay  State  as  the  loving  Goldsmith 
writes  to  his  brother,  in  the  beautiful  poem  of  the  "  Traveller," 

"  Where'er  I  roam,  whatever  climes  to  see, 
My  heart,  untravelled,  fondly  turns  to  thee." 


A   TRIBUTE    TO    MASSACHUSETTS. PROPHECY.  179 

You  may  call  it  weakness  if  you  will,  but  I  cannot  help  it 
Although  I  have  been  less  than  a  fortnight  absent  from  that 
mother  of  states,  that  soil  to  which  every  thing  great  and  glori- 
ous seems  indigenous,  a  tear  blinds  my  eye  as  I  turn  it  toward 
her  territory,  and  my  heart  swells  with  emotion  as  I  devoutly 
form  with  my  pen  the  words  so  often  heard  in  her  courts  and 
halls  of  legislation,  "  God  save  the  commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts." O,  what  a  spectacle  she  is  destined  to  be  to  the 
world  a  few  years  hence,  when  she  has  crushed  her  worst 
enemy,  Intemperance  !  What  then  shall  stay  her  railroad 
progress  in  the  path  towards  perfection  ? 

I  speak  of  her  crushing  her  enemy,  Intemperance.     She  can 
and  she  will  do  it.     Her  principles  as  a  state,  and   her  past 
history,  are  pledges  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  '.York  she  has 
taken  in  hand.     Events  now  transpiring,  or  about  to  transpire, 
may  delay  or  hasten  the  final  result ;  hit  it  will  come.     If  the 
case  now  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  should 
be  decided  in  favor  of  Massachusetts  the  present  session,  the 
traffic  in  strong  drinks,  now  unblushingly  carried  on  in  many 
parts  of  the  state,  in  open  defiance  of  all  laws,  divine  and 
human,  may   have  a  very  few  months  to  die  in.     It  will  make 
one  final  struggle  for  existence,  but  it  will  be  the  convulsion 
which  precedes  dissolution.     It  is  tolerably  quiet  now,  but  like 
a  dying  whale  it  will  yet  have  its  flurry,  as  the  whalemen  say. 
That  once  fairly  over,  of  the  carcass  of  this  beast  of  many 
horns,  old  Massachusetts  will  make  a  light,  which,  set  on  the 
pinnacle  of   her  highest  lighthouse,   Bunker  Hill  Monument, 
shall  be  seen  at  the  palace  of  the  czar  of  Russia,  and  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  the  Celestial  Empire. 
Her  example  is  destined  to  preach  temperance  trumpet-tongued 
to  the  world.     Let  those,  who,  with  a  whine  which  would  do 
credit  to  a  whipped  schoolboy,  are  continually  drawling  out, 
"  You  can't  drive  men,"  enjoy  their  opinions  and  express  them  too. 

Ay,  let  them  "  -whine 
And  whimper  to  the  fourteenth  line." 

The  old  Bay  State  will,  with  the  rod  of  righteous  laws,  drive 


180  A    TRIBUTE    TO    MASSACHUSETTS. PROPHECY. 

out  these  vermin,  who,  like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  have  come  up 
over  the  land  and  crept  into  the  very  kneading  troughs  of  the 
people. 

Probably  some  reader,  whose  blood  is  within  three  degrees  of 
the  freezing  point,  will  exclaim,  "  Jewett  is  wild.  He  is  enthu- 
siastic, and  the  opinions  he  expresses  are  not  the  result  of 
sober  judgment.  Like  a  timid  boy,  who  walks  abroad  in  the 
dark,  he  whistles  to  keep  his  courage  up."  But,  sir,  I  know 
the  people  of  Massachusetts.  I  have  labored  with  and  for 
them  constantly  for  these  seven  years.  I  have,  met  them  in 
council  on  this  subject,  from  Berkshire  Hills  to  Cape  Cod.  I 
have  sat  by  their  hearth-sides,  and  I  know  them  as  well  as  any 
living  man  ;  and  I  tell  you,  sir,  and  I  tell  the  world,  and  would 
fain  do  it  in  the  hearing  of  the  wine-bibbers  of  Beacon  Street, 
and  of  the  distillers  and  rum-dealers  of  Boston,  of  the  retailers 
scattered  up  and  down  through  the  state,  who  stand  at  the  end 
of  the  hose,  and  direct  the  streams  of  death  into  the  mouths  of 
gaping  thousands,  that  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  men  of 
Massachusetts  have  in  their  inmost  souls  decreed,  that  the  traffic 
in  intoxicating  drinks,  within  her  borders,  shall  come  to  an 
end.  Read  those  words,  thou  wretched  wife  of  the  wretched 
drunkard,  sitting  by  your  desolate  hearth,  and  shedding  bitter 
tears,  as  busy  memory  calls  up  the  now  blasted  hopes  of  other 
clays  !  Read  them  !  They  were  not  written  to  mock  you  with 
deceitful  hopes.  If  you  dwell  within  the  bounds  of  old  Massa- 
chusetts, and  death  does  not  speedily  put  a  period  to  your  woes, 
or  the  life  of  your  infatuated  husband,  you  shall  yet  be  the  happy 
wife  of  a  sober  man.  Reform  in  this  matter  shall  come,  whethev 
he  will -or  no.  If,  in  a  lucid  and  happy  moment,  he  may  be 
influenced  to  dash  the  cup  from  his  lips,  it  is  well.  If  not,  the 
touch  of  a  magic  wand,  wrought  by  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
Massachusetts,  shall  palsy  the  hand  which  may  be  stretched  to 
reach  him  the  cup  of  poison,  whether  that  hand  belong  to  an 
aristocratic  millionaire  of  the  city  of  Boston,  or  the  presiding 
genius  of  the  dog-hole  from  which  the  very  whelps  of  hell  now 
yelp  out  their  contempt  of  mercy  and  their  defiance  of  law. 


BOSTON  RUM  IN  THE  COUNTRY,  &C.         181 

Read  those  words,  ye  abused  and  ragged  children,  who 
tremble  in  the  presence  of  your  crazed  and  infuriated  father, 
and  shrink  away  to  your  couches  of  straw.  Better  days  are  in 
store  for  you.  The  monster  who  has  poisoned  your  father  and 
stolen  away  your  bread,  shall  die.  The  sons  of  those  who  fell 
on  Bunker  Hill,  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  have  sworn  it  before 
high  Heaven,  and  it  will  be  done. 


BOSTON    RUM  IN    THE    COUNTRY,  AND  COUNTRY 
RUM-SELLERS   IN   BOSTON. 

HOLDEN,  Dec.  30,  1845. 

r  RIEND    KlMBALL  : 

IN  passing  through  a  portion  of  Worcester  county  recently,  I 
came  into  the  possession  of  certain  facts  which  in  my  judgment 
are  too  important  to  be  kept  from  the  friends  of  temperance 
generally,  and  of  the  citizens  of  Boston  in  particular.  My  route 
lay  through  Leicester,  Spencer,  the  Brookfields,  Warren,  and 
one  town  in  Hampshire  county,  Ware.  Short  as  was  this  tour, 
it  carried  me  through  three  places  where  the  rum-sellers  had 
been  driven  out  by  public  opinion  and  the  law,  within  the  last 
three  months ;  and  where,  my  dear  sir,  do  you  suppose  they 
have  gone  ?  What  favored  portion  of  our  state  approximates 
to  a  paradise  through  their  blessed  influence  ?  Boston  !  I  can 
almost  fancy  that  I  see  our  good  Deacon  Grant,  as  with  the  help 
of  his  glasses  he  reads  this  statement,  knit  his  brow,  and  shake 
his  head  grown  gray  in  the  service  of  temperance  and  humanity, 
and  in  his  quick,  emphatic  way,  exclaim,  "  Too  bad  !  too  bad !  " 
Yes,  deacon,  it  is  too  bad,  that  the  metropolis  of  the  state,  our 
modern  Athens,  your  own  beloved  Boston,  should  be  cursed 
with  evil  influences  that  are  driven  from  the  country.  But  so  it 
is.  Those  rum-sellers  have  gone  to  resume  their  work  of  death 
in  Boston.  The  country  towns  are  being  swept,  and  Boston 
catches  the  dust.  They  are  casting  out  devils,  and  Boston  is  at 
present  the  herd  into  which  they  are  permitted  to  enter.  How 
and  why  permitted  ?  A  few  words  will  suffice  to  explain. 
16 


182  BOSTON    RUM    IN    THE    COUNTRY,    &C. 

In  Boston,  vile  fellows,  who  are  disposed  to  sell  strong  drink, 
are  kept  in  countenance  by  some  very  reputable  citizens,  who 
prosecute  the  same  business  on  a  larger  scale.  In  Boston,  the 
law  is  not  enforced,  as  in  the  country  towns,  and  the  impunity 
with  which  men  there  have  been  permitted  to  trample  on  the 
statutes  of  the  commonwealth,  acts  as  a  bounty  to  encourage  the 
emigration  thither  of  every  scapegrace,  who,  by  a  more  healthy 
public  opinion,  and  a  more  vigorous  enforcement  of  law,  is  driven 
from  the  country  towns. 

When  will  Bostonians  understand  their  true  policy  in  con- 
nection with  this  great  question  ?  If  they  would  not  have  their 
pecuniary  burdens  increased,  —  if  they  attach  any  importance  to 
the  morality  and  order  of  the  city,  —  if  they  would  not  surround 
their  children  as  they  grow  up  with  the  very  elements  of  pollution, 
—  if  they  would  not  have  Boston  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing 
to  the  state,  they  must  awake  to  their  duty.  The  present  state 
of  things  in  the  city  exerts  an  influence  to  hinder  the  progress  of 
the  cause  elsewhere.  Strangers  from  other  states  visit  Boston, 
and,  forming  their  opinions  of  the  condition  of  the  state  from 
the  condition  of  its  met?c?cli::,  [;o  av/iiy.  and  declare  that  what 
has  been  published  in  re  ti<ri  to  the  glorious  results  of  the 
temperance  reformation  m  u:e  old  Bay -State  is  not  to  be  credit- 
ed. Friends  of  the  cauEic  go  in  froi.i  the  country  towns,  and 
seeing  the  state  of  things  in  Boston,  return  disheartened,  and 
almost  despair  of  ultimate  success.  Rum-sellers,  hard  pressed 
in  the  country,  go  into  the  city  to  get  their  supplies  of  poison, 
and  witnessing  the  unrestrained  traffic  there,  go  home  strength* 
ened  and  resolved  to  hold  out  a  little  longer,  hoping  for  some 
favorable  turn  of  affairs  which  shall  secure  to  them  the  impunity 
with  which  their  city  brethren  prosecute  the  work  of  death* 
Tell  the  men  of  Boston  these  truths.  Tell  them  to  Mayor 
Quincy,  to  the  aldermen  and  common  council,  to  the  city 
marshal,  to  the  clergy  of  Boston,  —  many  of  whom  are  as  silent 
on  this  subject  as  though  they  had  lost  the  power  of  speech 
altogether,  —  tell  them,  that  unless  they  more  faithfully  and 
sternly  discharge  their  duties,  Boston  shall  become  what  Texas 
once  was,  the  paradise  of  rogues. 


A    QUESTION   ANSWERED,   &C.  183 


A    QUESTION     ANSWERED,     RESULTS     PREDICTED, 
MOTIVES    PRESENTED,    AND    ADVICE   GIVEN. 

WHY  does  the  cause  of  temperance  advance  so  much  more 
slowly  in  our  large  and  populous  towns,  which  are  centres  of 
trade  and  influence,  than  in  the  country  towns  around  them, 
and  the  state  generally  ?  The  above  question  is  often  asked, 
and  a  great  variety  of  answers  are  given.  The  following  ex- 
tract of  a  letter  to  D.  Kimball,  Esq.,  in  reference  to  the  condi- 
tion of  one  of  our  large  towns  in  1845,  and  which  appeared  in 
the  columns  of  the  Temperance  Standard,  March  13,  of  that 
year,  contains  a  partial  answer  to  the  above  questions,  by  the 
author  of  this  volume. 

What  may  be  the  precise  condition  of  Springfield  now,  in 
1849,  so  far  as  temperance  is  concerned,  the  writer  does  not 
know.  He  has  heard  that  it  has  not  been  much  improved  since 
1845.  If  such  be  the  facts  in  the  case,  it  may  do  the  citizens 
of  that  town  no  material  injury  to  read  the  following  letter 
again,  in  a  larger  type  than  was  used. in  its  first  publication. 

"  SPRINGFIELD,  March  13,  1845. 
"  FRIEND  KIMBALL  :  — 

"  There  is  no  town  in  the  state  where  the  friends  of  tem- 
perance have  more  opposing  influences  to  contend  with  than 
in  this  beautiful  village.  The  railroad  trains  which  come  thun- 
dering into  the  village  from  the  east,  west,  north,  and  south, 
bring  along,  daily,"  with  many  more  valuable  commodities,  a 
score  or  two  of  itinerant  loafers,  of  every  grade,  high  and  low, 
rich  and  poor,  men  who  have  no  particular  business  but  to 
gratify  their  sensual  appetites,  to  eat  and  drink,  to  smoke  and 
chew,  to  swear  and  gamble,  to  sink  themselves,  and  all  over 
whom  they  can  exert  an  influence,  lower  in  the  scale  of  being. 
These  drones  in  the  great  hive  of  human  society  are  drawn 
to  Springfield  by  a  variety  of  attractions.  They  cannot  endure 
stillness  and  quiet,  because  it  would  leave  them  time  to  think  ; 


184  A    QUESTION    ANSWERED,    &C. 

and  Springfield  is  a  busy,  bustling  place.  The  men  walk  fast, 
talk  fast,  and  transact  business  in  a  hurry ;  and  the  ladies,  it  is 
said,  proceed  with  such  rapidity  in  their  particular  department 
of  business,  that  they  will  set  a  bachelor's  heart  on  fire  with 
the  lightning  of  their  eyes,  before  he  is  aware  of  his  danger, 
or  can  decide  on  his  plan  of  resistance.  The  facilities  for 
travel  in  every  direction,  is  another  attraction  which  Springfield 
presents  to  these  unclean  birds  of  passage  and  prey.  They 
stay  not  long  in  a  place,  but  like  the  canker-worm,  when  they 
have  eaten  the  green  leaves  of  the  bough  on  which  they  rest, 
and  marred  its  beauty,  they  move  to  the  next  place,  and  so  on. 
Every  town  or  village  presenting  such  ready  means  of  com- 
munication with  the  rest  of  the  world,  will  be  periodically 
cursed  with  these  migrating  vermin.  The  strongest  attraction, 
however,  for  loafers,  which  Springfield  presents,  is  the  exten- 
sive traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks  which  is  here  carried  on.  All 
the  principal  taverns,  though  otherwise  excellent,  furnish  to  the 
infatuated  slave  of  alcohol  the  poison  which  is  destroying  him ; 
and  there  are  in  the  place,  a  number  of  stores  where  the  rum 
jug  and  bottle  are  filled  without  any  apparent  shame  or  attempt 
at  concealment. 

*'  To  combat  successfully  the  evil  influences  which  are  by 
these  means  drawn  together  at  Springfield,  and  preserve  the 
character  of  the  place,  will  require  the  united  aid  of  not  only 
the  laboring  classes  of  society,  the  mechanic,  the  merchant, 
and  the  professional  man,  but  the  capitalists  —  men  high  in 
official  station,  whose  influence  for  good  or  evil  is  always  ex- 
tensive. This  latter  class  of  persons,  with  a  few  honorable 
exceptions,  stand  aloof  from  this  great  enterprise,  thus  mani- 
festing not  only  a  lamentable  want  of  Christian  benevolence, 
but  of  true  policy  and  worldly  wisdom.  The  class  to  which  I 
refer  have  strong  attachments  to  the  place.  The  kindred  of 
many  of  them  sleep  in  its  cemetery ;  unsurpassed  for  its  beau- 
ty by  any  I  have  ever  seen.  Springfield  is  the  charmed  and 
charming  spot  they  call  home.  There,  in  the  delightful  gardens 


A    QUESTION   ANSWERED,    &C.  185 

and  pleasure  grounds  which  occupy  the  hill-side,  or  the  more 
fertile  plain  along  the  borders  of  the  Connecticut,  may  be  seen 
the  evidence  of  their  cultivated  minds  and  tastes.  There  their 
property  is  uivested,  and  there  they  mean  to  spend  the  remnant 
of  their  days.  Whatever  is  calculated  to  render  property  less 
secure,  to  lower  the  standard  of  intelligence  and  morality,  to 
hinder  the  progress  of  religion  and  true  refinement,  to  mar  the 
prosperity  and  reputation  of  that  beautiful  village,  is,  therefore, 
to  them  an  object  of  the  deepest  interest,  and  should  elicit 
their  most  strenuous  efforts  for  its  removal.  Now,  gentlemen 
and  ladies  of  Springfield,  know  ye  not  that  a  worm  is  at  the 
root  of  the  prosperity  and  character  of  your  village,  gnawing 
to  the  very  heart  of  private  virtue  and  public  morality  ?  It  is 
the  worm  of  the  Still.  Let  intoxicating  drinks  continue  to 
exert  their  legitimate  influence  among  you,  and  occasionally 
the  wretch,  debased  with  rum,  will  apply  the  torch  of  the  in- 
cendiary to  your  dwellings  and  warehouses,  that  during  the 
conflagration  he  may  plunder  the  means  of  further  dissipation. 
Your  property  will  be  taxed  to  support  the  victims  of  intemper- 
ance, and  their  wretched  families ;  your  slumbers  will  be  dis- 
turbed by  the  shouts  of  drunken  revellers ;  the  reputation  of 
your  village  shall  be  still  further  tarnished,  and  you  shall  one 
day  blush  while  you  hear  it  spoken  of  as  'a  County  Grog- 
Shop.'  Your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall  be  corrupted  by 
prevailing  immorality,  and  numbers  of  your  citizens  sink  yearly 
into  graves  of  infamy.  Would  you  prevent  all  this  —  secure 
your  own  true  interest,  the  prosperity  of  your  village,  and  the 
happiness  of  your  citizens  —  embrace  at  once  the  cause  of  tem- 
perance, lend  a  helping  hand  to  those  of  your  citizens  who  are 
battling  with  your  common  enemy,  and  you  will  speedily  drive 
him  from  your  borders." 
16* 


186  WASHINGTONIAN   HALL. 


WASHINGTONIAN    HALL. 

BOSTON,  March,  1843. 

ON  Court  Stieet,  a  few  doors  from  Brigham's  Saloon,  with 
which  we  have  made  the  readers  of  the  Journal  somewhat  ac- 
quainted, is  the  entrance  to  the  rooms  appropriated  to  the  use 
of  our  zealous  coadjutors,  the  Washingtonians,  and  devoted  to 
the  cause  of  temperance  and  humanity.  And  for  ourselves, 
we  should  have  but  little  respect  for  that  man  who  could  visit 
even  this  empty  hall,  knowing  the  object  to  which  it  is  appro- 
priated, without  having  his  heart  touched  and  softened  by  the 
reflections  which  must  here  crowd  on  his  mind.  There  are 
the  benches,  which,  night  after  night,  are  filled  with  men  of  alt 
ranks  and  conditions  ;  ah,  and  lovely  women  too,  who  meet  to 
unite  their  sympathies  and  their  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
wretched  drunkard,  hurrying  on  with  a  strange  infatuation 
toward  an  untimely  grave.  Here,  at  the  north  end  of  the 
hall,  is  the  stand  for  the  speakers  ;  and  on  each  side,  seats  for 
those  who  come  to  cheer  with  music  and  song  the  hearts  of 
those  engaged  in  this  heaven-born  enterprise.  Here  hangs  the 
portrait  of  that  faithful  laborer,  Hawkins ;  and  on  the  opposite 
side,  a  series  of  engravings,  illustrative  of  the  drunkard's  prog- 
ress. Here,  too,  is  the  table,  over  which  many  a  wretched 
man  has  bent  to  sign,  with  trembling  hand,  the  pledge,  that, 
with  God's  blessing,  has  restored  him  to  society,  happiness,  and 
respectability.  But  let  us  pass  through  that  door  in  the  rear 
of  the  hall,  and  descend  the  stairs  —  not  mahogany  ones,  dear 
reader,  with  a  fine  Brussels  carpet  for  your  feet,  but  plain 
boards  rudely  put  together.  No  room  here  for  display.  The 
mahogany  furniture,  gilt  lattice  work,  and  gaudy  draperies,  are 
over  yonder,  at  Brigham's,  Concert  Hall,  not  here.  Here  they 
are  not  needed.  Sober  business  is  done  here,  and  elegance  is 
not  expected.  But  what  have  we  here  ?  —  a  dozen  or  more 
bunks,  or  coarse  beds,  for  the  poor  victims  of  man's  inhuman- 
ity, turned  into  the  streets  by  the  merciless  rum-seller ;  and 


PARTY  AND    SECTARIAN   JEALOUSIES.  187 

left  to  perish,  but  for  the  efforts  of  the  kind-hearted  men  who 
bear  him  hither,  and  take  care  of  him  until  Reason  has  resumed 
her  throne ;  and  then,  with  a  word  of  encouragement,  get  their 
names  to  the  pledge.  May  God's  blessing  rest  upon  every 
true  Washingtonian,  who,  with  honest  purpose  and  holy  zeal, 
labors  for  the  reformation  of  the  poor  drunkard  ;  for,  though 
fallen,  he,  too,  is  our  brother. 


PARTY    AND    SECTARIAN    JEALOUSIES. 

IN  some  particular  localities,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  it  seems  hard 
work  for  the  friends  of  the  cause  to  forget,  when  they  go  into  a 
temperance  meeting,  that  Mr.  A.,  who  is  speaking  on  the  sub- 
ject, is  not  a  member  of  our  party,  or  that  he  does  not  attend 
our  meeting.  His  words  have,  therefore,  little  weight  with 
many  who  hear ;  and  any  measure  he  may  propose  is  regarded 
with  suspicion.  If  the  angel  of  Temperance  ever  weeps,  it 
must  be  over  this  fatal  folly  of  her  children.  Suppose  Mr.  B. 
is  a  whig  —  what  have  you,  Mr.  Democrat,  to  do  with  that  fact 
in  a  temperance  meeting  ?  And  why,  Mr.  Whig,  while  your 
neighbor  is  speaking  on  the  subject,  and  from  the  fulness  of 
his  heart  deprecating  the  continuance  of  the  curse,  and  exhort- 
ing to  some  efficient  measure,  with  a  view  to  its  removal, 
should  you  be  thinking  of  the  late  political  campaign,  and  the 
vote  Mr.  D.  gave  against  your  cherished  political  opinions  ? 
Such  a  course  by  temperance  men  is  perfectly  suicidal.  The 
same  is  true  of  sectarian  prejudices,  which  serve  to  hinder  men 
from  working  together  in  any  movement  for  the  good  of  com- 
munity. Religion,  "  pure  and  undefiled,"  never  hinders  its 
possessor  from  aiding  even  bad  men  in  a  good  work.  The 
disciples  of  our  Lord,  when  directed  to  distribute  the  loaves 
among  the  starving  multitude,  did  not  display  the  littleness  of 
their  souls,  by  inquiring  who  of  the  hungry  throng  were  Phari- 
sees, and  who  Sadducees.  They  fed  them  indiscriminately. 


188         THE   RUM-SELLING   PROFESSOR    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

Men  of  different  sects,  who  have  in  exercise  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel,  will  kindly  work  together  to  feed  the  hungry,  and  to 
clothe  the  naked,  to  reform  the  vicious,  or  remove  from  society 
sources  of  common  danger ;  but  let  the  parties  whom  you  de- 
sire should  work  together  for  the  promotion  of  a  cause,  bear 
but  the  name  of  Christ,  without  his  spirit,  and  they  will  be  as 
unsocial,  jealous,  intractable,  and  obstinate  as  the  devil  could 
desire. 


THE     RUM-SELLING    PROFESSOR    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

MR. ,  the  principal  rum-seller  of  the  village,  is  a 

church  member,  and  Sabbath  after  Sabbath,  takes  his  place  at 
the  head  of  his  pew,  and  succeeds  very  well,  as  I  am  informed, 
in  shaping  his  face  to  a  sanctimonious  seeming.  To  aid  the 
gentleman  and  his  acquaintances  in  estimating  his  claims  to 
Christian  character,  I  will  contrast,  in  a  few  lines,  the  life  and 
labors  of  the  great  Teacher,  with  the  life  and  labors  of  this 
professed  disciple. 


THE    MASTER 


Went  about  doing  good      .     . 
Fed  the  hungry 


Healed  the  sick   . 


Raised  the  dead  . 


Cast  out  devils 


THE   DISCIPLE 

Stays  at  home  doing  evil. 

Takes  away  the  bread  of  the 
poor. 

Scatters  the  elements  of  dis- 
ease broadcast. 

Hurries  men  to  the  grave  by 
his  accursed  traffic. 

Puts  the  devil  into  men  with 
New  England  rum. 


OUR    MAIN    SUPPORT    IN    CITIES. 

THERE  exist  in  cities  some  obstacles  to  the  advancement  of 
the  temperance  cause,  which  we  do  not  have  to  encounter  in 


LEGISLATIVE     WISDOM.  189 

the  country  towns.  First,  the  multiplicity  of  objects  which  are 
continually  presenting  themselves  to  the  mind  of  its  citizens, 
claiming  their  attention.  In  the  midst  of  business  and  political 
speculations,  fashions,  ever-varying,  new,  and  strange,  and  the 
constant  and  rapid  succession  of  amusements,  the  great  mass 
are  whirled  along  with  but  little  time  or  thought  which  they  can 
spare  to  the  work  of  reform.  The  very  rich,  seated  by  their 
warm  grates,  or  their  tables  loaded  with  luxuries,  have  little 
time,  and  less  disposition,  to  trouble  themselves  about  the  con- 
dition of  the  thousands  who  are  suffering  from  the  effects  of 
intemperance.  How  can  they  leave  their  splendid  saloons,  to 
seek  out  the  abode  of  want  and  misery,  and  administer  to  the 
necessities  of  their  suffering  fellow-creatures  ?  Few  indeed  of 
the  very  rich  are  actually  engaged  in  the  work  of  reform  ;  but 
enough  such  there  are  to  show  us  what  can  be  done  by  men 
to  whom  God  intrusts  great  wealth,  and  extensive  influence, 
and  that  still  richer  gift,  a  benevolent  heart.  From  the  other 
extreme  of  society,  of  course,  we  expect  very  little  aid. 
Stinted  as  they  are  in  the  means  of  enjoyment,  it  is  not  strange 
that  they  should  seek  for  the  pleasure  of  partial  intoxication, 
or  to  drown  all  sense  of  suffering  in  perfect  inebriety  ;  especial- 
ly, when  for  the  former  they  find  a  ready  apology  in  the  ex- 
ample of  the  wealthy,  and  but  too  often  in  the  example  of  the 
professedly  good.  To  the  middling  classes  of  our  cities,  such 
as  the  merchant  with  moderate  wealth,  the  mechanic,  the  pro- 
fessional man  who  toils  for  his  bread,  and  the  artisan,  the  cause 
of  temperance  must  look  for  its  main  support. 


LEGISLATIVE    WISDOM. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  report  made  to  the  legisla- 
ture of  New  York  in  1842,  by  a  committee  appointed  to  consider 
the  petitions  of  the  friends  of  temperance  for  a  law  prohibiting 
the  traffic  in  intoxicating  drinks.  It  was  quoted  approvingly  in 
an  address  delivered  before  the  New  York  State  Temperance 
Society,  in  1843,  by  the  Hon.  D.  S.  Dickinson. 


190  ALCOHOL   AS   A    MEDICINE. 

"  A  principle  is  deeply  implanted  in  the  human  breast  which 
is  ever  averse  to  compulsion  and  impatient  of  restraint.  A 
dictatorial  statute,  with  its  pains  and  penalties,  might,  by  oper- 
ating upon  the  fears,  make  a  few  hypocrites,  but  it  could  never 
make  a  single  convert ;  and  the  very  inhibition  would  produce 
a  repugnance  to  temperance,  and  excite  a  strong  desire  to  taste 
the  forbidden  fruit" 

Such  language  a  non-resistant  might  consistently  use ;  but 
found  in  a  legislative  report,  written  by  men  who  had  assem- 
bled for  the  very  purpose  of  framing  "  dictatorial  statutes,  with 
pains  and  penalties,"  and  who  were  then  engaged  in  that 
business,  must,  with  every  man  possessed  of  common  sense, 
expose  them  to  the  charge  of  stupidity  or  hypocrisy.  Stupid 
they  must  be,  if  they  could  not  see  that  the  principle  they  were 
laying  down  would  apply  equally  to  every  law  intended  to 
restrain  the  corrupt  appetites  and  passions  of  men.  Ye  wise 
ones,  had  ye  no  fears  that  your  laws  against  gaming-houses 
would  excite  in  gamblers  "  a  strong  desire  to  taste  the  forbid- 
den fruit"?  that  your  law  against  brothels  would  excite  in  the 
licentious  "a  strong  desire  to  taste  the  "forbidden  fruit"? 
that  your  law  against  theft  would  excite  in  thieves  "  a  strong 
desire  to  taste  the  forbidden  fruit "?  We  have  no  patience 
with  such  legislative  consistency,  or  with  honorable  gentlemen 
who  approvingly  quote  their  senseless  twaddle. 


ALCOHOL    AS    A    MEDICINE. 

UXBRIDOE,  April  6,  1846. 
FRIEND  KIMBALL:  — 

Among  the  various  obstacles  which  interpose  to  prevent 
01  delay  the  final  triumph  of  the  temperance  cause  within  the 
limits  of  Massachusetts,  no  one  gives  me  more  anxiety  than  the 
undue  importance  attached  to  alcoholic  liquors  as  medicines. 
—  Satan's  most  potent  agent  for  the  destruction  of  men, 
body,  soul,  and  estate,  got  its  first  circulation  in  human 
societies,  and  through  the  veins  of  human  beings,  on  the  strength 


ALCOHOL    AS   A   MEDICINE.  191 

of  its  reputation  as  a  medicine ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  its 
supposed  power  to  remove  diseases,  is  the  last  intrenchment 
from  which  this  enemy  of  man  is  to  be  routed. 

As  a  means  of  getting  my  views  before  you  and  the  readers 
of  the  Standard,  I  will  give  you,  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue,  the 
substance' of  what  has  often  passed  between  me  and  friends  of 
the  cause  in  different  parts  of  the  state. 

Mr.  B.  Doctor  Jewett,  is  there  to  be  no  action  by  the  present 
legislature  for  licensing  apothecaries  to  sell  alcoholic  drinks  for 
medical  purposes? 

Dr.  J.   I  hope  not. 

Mr.  B.  lam  surprised  to  hear  you  express  yourself  in  that 
manner.  It  is  clear  we  must,  through  some  channel,  obtain  the 
article  in  case  of  sickness ;  and  when  we  have  stopped  the  traffic 
in  stores  and  taverns,  what  are  we  to  do  ? 

Dr.  J.  You  will  be  in  a  sad  quandary,  to  be  sure !  I  hope 
you  and  your  temperance  brethren  will  not,  however,  be  the 
first  to  put  on  mourning,  for  the  absence  of  your  old  enemy, 
whom  you  are  laboring  so  industriously  to  expel. 

Mr.  B.  Ah,  doctor  !  it  is  easy  to  laugh  ;  but  when  the  life  of 
a  dear  friend  or  relative  is  at  stake,  and  an  important  medicine, 
which  might  afford  relief,  is  not  to  be  had,  even  your  mirthful- 
ness  would  have  to  give  place  to  some  other  sentiment. 

Dr.  J.  You  are  supposing  a  case  which  does  not  often  occur, 
I  assure  you.  The  term  of  time  for  which  human  life  has 
been  lengthened  by  alcoholic  stimulants,  contrasted  with  that 
by  which  it  has  been  shortened,  may  perhaps  compare  as  one 
minute  to  a  century ;  and  in  our  efforts  to  remove  the  cause 
which  has  taken  the  life  of  at  least  every  tenth  man  in  our 
country,  for  the  last  fifty  years,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to 
embarrass  our  operations  with  a  labored  effort  to  provide  for  so 
rare  a  case  as  the  one  you  have  supposed. 

Mr.  B.  You  talk  of  the  cases  being  rare,  where  the  use  of 
alcoholic  liquor  is  demanded,  as  a  medical  agent :  why,  sir, 
there  are  but  few  days,  during  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five, 
that  our  physician  does  not  post  some  of  his  patrons  off  to  pro- 
cure rum,  brandy,  or  wine  for  his  patients. 


192  ALCOHOL   AS   A    MEDICINE. 

Dr.  /.  Then  he  is  sadly  behind  the  times  in  his  profession,  or 
he  is  willing,  for  the  sake  of  popularity,  to  minister  to  depraved 
appetites,  or  to  subscribe  to  or  endorse  erroneous  opinions. 

Mr.  B.  (With  some  warmth.)  Sir,  our  physician  is  no  fool, 
and  his  honesty  was  never  questioned  by  those  who  know  him. 

Dr.  J.  I  am  glad  you  entertain  so  good  an  opinion  of  my 
professional  brother,  who  happens  to  have  the  care  of  your 
health.  I  hope  it  is  well  founded.  But  do  state  some  of  the 
cases  for  which  he  recommends  spirits  as  a  medicine. 

Mr.  B.  Well,  sir,  it  so  happens,  that  I  can  do  it  with  ease, 
for  a  number  of  such  cases  have  occurred  in  my  immediate 
neighborhood,  recently.  —  The  week  before  last,  the  son  of 
farmer  Curtis,  a  neighbor  of  mine,  fell  from  an  apple-tree  which 
he  was  pruning,  and  fractured  both  bones  of  his  leg  below  the 
knee.  I  happened  to  be  passing  the  spot  at  the  time  of  the 
accident,  and  helped  to  bear  the  young  man  to  the  house.  The 
doctor  was  sent  for  in  haste.  He  came,  and,  after  reducing  the 
fracture  and  dressing  the  limb,  he  ordered  it  to  be  kept  con- 
stantly wet  with  spirits  and  water,  mixed  in  equal  parts. 

Dr.  J.   Did  he  furnish  the  article,  or  send  for  it  to  his  office  ? 

Mr.  B.  No,  he  keeps  only  a  very  limited  assortment  of  the 
most  common  medicines,  for  his  own  practice. 

Dr.  J.  But,  sir,  according  to  your  statement,  spirit  should 
be  of  the  number,  for  it  is  a  common  prescription  of  his,  as  you 
inform  me  ;  almost  as  common  as  epsom  salts,  senna,  or  elixir 
paregoric.  Why  do  not  the  articles  rum,  brandy,  &c.,  have 
place  in  his  "  limited  assortment "  of  choice  medicines  ? 

Mr.  B.  He  does  not  want  the  trouble  of  it.  He  tried  it 
once,  for  a  short  time  ;  and,  in  his  absence,  some  persons,  who 
ought  not  to  have  it,  called  for  the  article,  and,  pretending  they 
wanted  it  for  medicine,  the  doctor's  wife  has  filled  their  bottles, 
'when  they  have  gone  off  and  got  drunk  upon  it.  Though  no 
wrong  was  intended,  many  coarse  jokes  have  been  cracked 
upon  the  doctor  in  consequence  of  such  cases.  One  of  our 
ultra  temperance  men,  who  always  carries  every  matter  he 
takes  hold  of  to  a  ridiculous  extreme,  absolutely  insulted  the 


ALCOHOL    AS    A    MEDICINE.  193 

good  doctor  in  the  street,  and  after  rallying  him  about  Sam 
Soaker's  getting  a  quart  of  rum  at  his  office,  to  cure  his  wife 
of  a  fever,  (when,  by  the  way,  she  was  in  perfect  health,)  he 
told  the  doctor  he  ought  to  reverse  the  M.  D.,  by  which  he  pro- 
claimed his  title,  and  let  it  stand  D.  M.,  for  "  Drunkard  Maker." 
The  doctor,  very  properly,  resented  the  insult,  and  his  wife 
declared  she  would  have  no  more  to  do  with  the  stuff;  that  she 
would  not  draw  another  pint  of  it  to  save  the  life  of  the  best 
man  in  the  village. 

Dr.  J.  Indeed  !  from  whence  then  did  farmer  Curtis  get  a 
supply  wherewith  to  keep  the  broken  leg  wet  ? 

Mr.  B.  Why,  he  was  obliged  to  go  over  to  the  store,  in  the 
east  part  of  the  town  —  and  — 

Dr.  J.  And  patronize  a  grog-shop,  which,  with  his  brethren 
of  the  Temperance  Society,  he  has  been  prosecuting  for  violation 
of  the  law,  and  doing  his  utmost  to  break  up  ! 

Mr.  B.  Yes,  but  he  could  not  do  otherwise,  for  the  doctor 
said  it  must  be  had  ;  and  though  Mr.  C.  declared  to  me  he  had 
rather  have  given  a  five  dollar  bill  than  to  have  stepped  inside 
that  rum-hole,  yet  the  life  and  health  of  his  dear  boy  were  not 
to  be  sacrificed  to  his  feelings. 

Dr.  J.  Let  me  assure  you,  friend  B.,  the  life  and  health  of 
his  "  dear  boy  "  were  in  no  degree  dependent  upon  medicine  to 
be  procured  at  a  grog-shop.  Why  was  the  broken  limb  ordered 
to  be  wet? 

Mr  B.    Why,  it  swelled  much,  and  was  very  hot. 
Dr.  J.   Then,  why  was  it  not  wet  with  iced  water  ? 
Mr.  B.   I  know  not,  unless  it  was  the  fear  that  the  lad  might 
take  cold  from  the  application. 

Dr.J.  "Take  cold!"  Fudge!  The  fear  that  a  patient  under 
such  circumstances  would  take  cold,  in  consequence  of  wetting 
the  inflamed  limb  with  cold  water,  is  a  bugbear,  to  frighten 
only  those  ignorant  of  all  medical  or  surgical  knowledge.  If 
your  doctor  knows  no  better  than  to  be  influenced  by  such 
groundless  fears,  I  recommend  him  to  visit  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital,  and  witness  the  daily  application  of  cold  water 
17 


194  ALCOHOL   AS   A   MEDICINE. 

to  inflamed  parts  by  the  direction  of  such  men  as  Surgeons 
Warren  and  Flay  ward,  and  he  would  part  with  his  fears  and 
ignorance  together,  and  would  not  again  subject  his  temperance 
patrons  to  the  mortifying  necessity  of  becoming  the  supporters 
of  the  grog-shop. 

Mr.  B.  But,  doctor,  many  learned  and  skilful  members  of 
your  profession  still  recommend  the  application  of  spirits  ex- 
ternally. How  is  this  ? 

Dr.  J.  That  fact  is  not  difficult  to  explain.  —  Some  physi- 
cians, though  originally  well  read  in  the  profession,  and  of  exten- 
sive practice  at  the  present  moment,  do  not  keep  up  with  the 
improvements  in  the  healing  art ;  and  we  find  them  clinging  to 
old  exploded  and  false  doctrines,  to  their  own  discredit,  and 
much  to  the  injury  of  the  community.  Not  long  since,  a  poor 
fellow  attacked  with  colic,  and  whose  bowels  were  twisted  by 
spasmodic  action  into  a  state  that  rendered  them  as  impervious, 
for  the  time  being,  as  a  gum  e!a-  •'.  il  o  "-ould  be  tied  in  forty 

square  knots,  was  dosed  by  Dr. for  twenty-four  hours 

with  cathartic  medicines,  to  uo  pv.rpore,  but  to  aggravate  his 
suffering, —  when  the  pocr  soul  might  have  been  made  as  com- 
fortable as  a  cat  on  a  cushion,  in  three  hours,  by  the  warm 
bath  and  opiates. 

Mr.  B.    You  speak  with  confidence,  doctor. 

Dr.  J.  So  I  may,  for  I  am  talking  of  matters  with  which  1 
am  acquainted.  The  old  notion  of  dealing  out,  for  every  feeble 
patient  convalescent  from  fever  or  other  disease,  a  little  Colombo 
or  gentian  root,  a  handful  of  camomile,  and  a  little  orange  peel, 
as  a  tonic,  and  ordering  "  a  pint  of  good  West  India  rum,"  or 
11  pure  Hollands  gin,"  wherewith  to  extract  their  virtues,  and 
perhaps  make  a  drunkard  of  the  patient,  is  a  mere  relic  of 
barbarism ;  as  much  so  as  the  ancient  pillory  or  whipping-post. 

Mr.  B.  But,  sir,  do  you  deny  that  there  are  cases  where  the 
internal  use  of  alcoholic  stimulants  is  necessary  ? 

Dr.  J.  Certainly  not ;  although  such  cases  are  by  no  means 
of  frequent  occurrence.  What  I  deny  is,  that  there  is  any  such 
necessity  for  their  use,  as  should  lead  to  the  licensing  of  any 


THE    REAL    SMJRCE    OF    MISCHIEF.  195 

particular  establishment  for  their  sale  any  more  than  for  the 
sale  of  gamboge,  or  blue  vitriol ;  and  I  deny  the  right  of  any 
physician,  in  country  practice  at  least,  to  order  the  article  and 
post  his  patrons  off  to  a  grog-shop  to  obtain  it.  All  that  is  really 
necessary  he  should  provide;  and  that  he  may  do,  in  ninety-nine 
cases  out  of  a  hundred,  from  a  fountain  not  more  extensive  than 
a  four  ounce  vial.  This  eternal  soaking,  sopping  and  snuffing 
of  rum  and  other  alcoholic  liquors,  ill  become  those  who  are 
professedly  laboring  to  rid  the  world  of  drunkenness ;  and  as  ill 
does  it  become  a  respectable  physician  to  encourage  a  system 
which  destroys,  I  fear,  mo;  a  life  than  the  whole  medical  profes- 
sion, let  them  do  their  best,  can  save. 


THE  RE.V.  CCUl";"   OF   MISCHIEF. 

QUINCY  Housa,  BOSTOX,  July  28,  1844. 
FRIEND  KIMBA.LL  :  — 

"  The  world  was  not  made  in  a  minute,"  is  a  Yankee  proverb, 
as  old,  at  least,  as  is  either  of  us.  Neither  can  the  work  of 
banishing  from  among  men  the  accursed  traffic  in  intoxicating 
drinks  be  done  in  t.  minute.  Yet  it  must,  I  believe  it  will  be 
done,  at  least  in  Nci;  England.  I  have  already  been  engaged 
in  the  work  more  tlv. :  twenty  years,  and  I  have  again  and  again 
expressed  to  you  tho  conviction  that  we  were  approaching  the 
end  of  our  labors.  L'o  far  as  the  country  towns  of  the  state  are 
concerned,  we  may  as  well  finish  the  business  in  twelve  months 
as  to  be  twelve  years  about  it.  Boston  will  linger  a  little,  but 
will  finally  bring  up  the  rear  in  good  style,  when  her  influential 
citizens  get  their  eyes  open  to  see  their  true  interests.  Every 
hour  is  shedding  light  upon  the  subject,  and  making  more  clear 
before  us  the  path  of  duty.  But  how  is  the  work  to  be  done  ? 
This  article  is  intended  for  the  special  perusal  and  thoughtful 
consideration  of  such  as  are  willing  to  do  something. 

To  such,  I  say,  look  about  you  !  and  see  whence  comes  the  evil 
you  still  deplore ;  the  evil,  which,  notwithstanding  all  the  triumphs 


196  THE    REAL    SOURCE    OF    MISCHIEF. 

of  the  cause  in  time  past,  still  presses  with  mountain  weight 
upon  the  hea:ts  of  suffering  thousands.  Look  carefully,  sharply, 
and  steadily.  One  will  tell  you  it  is  "  a  corrupt  public  opinion 
that  does  the  mischief."  But  hold  !  Ask  each  of  the  next  ten 
men  you  meet,  separately,  what  is  their  opinion  of  the  use  of 
alcoholic  liquors  as  a  drink,  and  note  the  answer.  Now  ask 
them  their  opinion  of  the  traffic,  and  note  that.  Eight  of  the 
ten  will  tell  you  the  use  is  destructive,  the  traffic  is  a  nuisance. 
Do  the  two  tenths,  or  the  eight  tenths,  constitute  public  opin- 
ion ?  Another  tells  you,  "  it  is  the  use  of  wine  among  the 
elite  and  fashionable  of  our  large  cities  and  towns."  Pause  a 
moment  and  consider.  Would  the  wife  of  your  neighbor  Ben 
Bloat,  charge  her  misery  to  that,  as  the  proximate  or  immediate 
cause  ?  I  think  not.  Ask  her.  Her  answer  will  be  worth  a 
volume  of  speculations,  and  I  venture  to  predict  that  in  her 
search  for  the  cause  of  her  husband's  degradation,  and  her  con- 
sequent wretchedness,  she  will  not  go  so  far  as  the  doors  of  the 
elite.  Another  will  tell  you  that  drunkenness  continues  because 
the  ministers  do  not  preach  enough  on  the  subject.  But  was  it 
the  character  of  your  minister's  last  ten  sermons  that  made 
Sam  Switchel  drunk  for  at  least  five  days  of  the  last  week  ?  I 
think  not.  It  was  not  the  sermons  Sam  swallowed.  He  did 
not  come  near  enough  to  them  to  have  them  seriously  affect 
him  for  good  or  evil.  Poor  fellow,  he  has  not  heard  a  sermon 
for  the  last  five  years.  You  must  look  farther,  or  nearer  home, 
as  the  case  may  be. 

Still  another  and  another  give  you  their  explanation  of  the 
matter.  I  will  give  you  mine.  It  is  not  public  opinion  alone, 
nor  the  wine  party  of  Mr.  A.  or  Mr.  B.,  nor  the  faults  and  fail- 
ings of  the  clergy,  nor  the  inconsistency  of  temperance  men. 
Neither  of  these,  nor  all  together,  though  they  are  all  doubtless 
evils,  made  Sam  Switchell  or  Ben  Bloat  drunk  last  week.  The 
real  agent  that  stole  away  their  reason  and  affections,  and  made 
them  neglect  their  duties,  and  abuse  their  families,  was  alcoholic 
drinks  furnished  them  by  the  rum-seller,  in  defiance  of  public 
opinion,  of  rigfr  and  justice,  and  in  open  defiance,  too,  of  the 


THE    REAL    SOURCE    OF    MISCHIEF.  197 

laws  of  this  comm  mwealth.  That  was  the  real  source  of  the 
mischief.  It  has  come  to  that.  Public  opinion  was  once 
against  us ;  the  social  customs  among  the  best  people  of  this 
state  were  once  against  us ;  the  law  was  once  against  ns.  Thanks 
be  to  God  for  his  blessing  on  our  labors,  they  are  all  changed 
in  their  character  and  influence,  and  are,  at  this  moment,  doing 
battle  on  the  right  side  of  this  great  conflict.  Imperfectly,  to  be 
sure  ;  not  always  in  the  heroic  style  we  could  wish  ;  but  yet, 
with  all  their  imperfections,  actively  on  the  right  side.  The 
illegal  traffic  in  strong  liquors,  carried  on  by  Peter  Poisoner, 
Esq.,  and  such  as  he,  is,  at  last,  the  only  real  obstacle  in  our 
way.  Strike,  then,  at  that.  Do  not,  as  you  love  the  cause,  and 
would  see  it  triumph,  suffer  yourself  to  be  set  on  a  wrong  track, 
to  be  put  off  by  any  expedients,  blinded  by  any  cobweb  veil 
of  speculation,  or  sent  on  "  a  wild  goose  chase  "  after  some- 
thing away  yonder,  when  the  trouble  is  near  you,  at  your  very 
door,  perhaps. 

Get  a  fair  view  of  the  real  wolf,  and  then  let  "  your  eye  be 
single,"  your  aim  direct,  and,  without  fear  of  noise,  or  sulphur 
smoke,  and  heedless  alike  of  the  lo  here !  and  lo  there  !  pullj 
and  we  will  drag  him  out  by  the  ears.     The  law  must  be  en- 
forced, such  as  it  is,  until  we  can  make  it  stronger.     Let  others 
do  what  they  may,  look  you  to  the  illegal  traffic,  carried  on  in 
your  vicinity,  and  get  every  particle  of  evidence  against  it  in  your 
power;   and  then,  either    bring    the  offender  at  once  before  a 
magistrate,  or  hand  your  evidence  to  the  district  attorney  in  time 
for  the  next  county  court.    Do  this,  now,  and  continually.    Suffer 
not  your  efforts  to  be  diverted  from  this  one  channel.     Waste 
no  time,  money,  or  influence  in  buying  out  rum-sellers,  or  in 
addressing  petitions  to  them.    Pray,  but  not  to  rum-sellers ;  they 
will  not  respect  your  petitions.     Get  up  no  temperance  picnics, 
or  festivals,  if  your  town  is  yet  plagued  with  a  rum-shop.    Work 
now ;  rejoice  and  be  glad  when  the  work  is  done.     Then  we 
will   have    festivals,   give   thanks,  sing,   and  be  right  merry. 
When  the  time  approaches  for  our  next  legislature  to  assemble, 
there  will  be  other  work  to  do,  which  shall  be  "  cut  out  and 
basted  "  in  time  ;  but  wow,  enforce  the  law. 


198  OCCASIOHAL    AND    STARTLING   EFFECT,  &C. 

There  are  no  real  obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  enforcement. 
There  are  difficulties,  but  energy  and  perseverance  can  over- 
come them.  Let  it  not  be  said  in  the  State  House,  when  we 
ask  for  additional  penalties,  that  we  have  not  faithfully  and  fairly 
tried  the  law  as  it  is.  For  long  years  we  have  ardently  wished, 
and  prayed,  and  labored,  that  we  might  possess  the  power  to 
crush  this  monster  of  iniquity,  with  more  than  seven  heads  and 
ten  horns. 

God  has  at  length  given  that  power  into  the  hands  of  the 
people  of  Massachusetts.  If  we  fail  to  employ  it,  we  shall 
prove  ourselves  to  be  hypocrites,  or  cowardly  vassals,  fit  to  be 
taxed,  and  tortured,  and  robbed  by  the  rum-seller,  so  long  as  it 
may  please  him  to  afflict  us. 


OCCASIONAL  AND  STARTLING   EFFECT  OF   THE 
TRAFFIC. -A  SPUR  TO  ACTION. 

LOWELL,  June  30,  1846. 
FRIEND  KIMBALL  :  — 

THE  ordinary  results  of  the  traffic  in  strong  drink  have  so 
long  been  matters  of  daily  observation,  that  they  produce  com- 
paratively but  little  excitement.  It  is  the  occasional,  more 
glaring,  but,  in  the  aggregate,  infinitely  less  evils  of  the  wicked 
system  we  are  aiming  to  crush,  that  tends  most  to  rouse  the 
community  and  direct  its  energies  against  it.  The  fact  that 
twenty  men  have  been  evidently  poisoned  to  death  by  alcoholic 
drinks,  in  a  particular  locality,  and  within  the  space  of  five 
years,  excites  vastly  less  attention  and  alarm  than  one  murder 
and  suicide  committed  under  the  maddening  stimulus  of  rum. 
Twenty  wives  and  mothers,  residents  of  the  same  town,  may 
have  all  their  hopes  of  happiness  in  this  life  crushed  by  the 
drunkenness  of  their  husbands,  and,  leaving  their  children  to 
want  and  misery,  may  sink  broken-hearted  into  the  cold  grave  ; 
it  will  excite  but  little  interest  beyond  the  circle  of  relatives,  or 
near  neighbors,  if  the  tragedy  only  covers  a  sufficient  period  of 


A  DISTILLER'S  CONSOLATION.  19J 

time.  Recently,  the  ordinary  results  of  the  traffic  in  strong 
drink  only  have  been  exhibited  in  this  city,  and  they  create  little 
excitement,  and  the  friends  of  the  cause  are  getting  cold  arid 
careless,  and  suffering  their  thoughts  and  energies  to  be  so  en- 
tirely engrossed  by  their  various  business  affairs,  that  the  rum- 
seller  is  permitted  to  push  on  the  business  of  destroying  human 
hopes  and  human  life  steadily  and  securely.  Our  friends  will, 
however,  again  awake  to  their  danger  and  their  duty.  If  they 
cannot  be  aroused  by  the  voice  of  exhortation  and  remonstrance, 
some  of  those  occasional  and  awful  results  of  the  traffic  will  be 
exhibited  in  their  midst,  which  have  so  often  aroused  our  friends 
in  other  places  to  efficient  action.  Some  infuriated  wretch 
may  imbrue  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  wife,  child,  or  neighbor, 
or  antedate  his  doom  by  putting  an  end  to  his  own  wretched 
life  with  the  razor  or  the  cord ;  and  the  fact  will  go  forth  in  the 
city  of  spindles,  that  he  was  driven  to  desperation  and  delirium 
by  rum  ;  and  then  Lowell  will  go  to  work  again.  Why  ?  Will 
such  an  occurrence  alter  the  character  or  tendency  of  the  rum 
trade,  now  carried  on  in  her  midst,  in  defiance  of  law  ?  Not  a 
whit.  Will  it  increase  the  guilt  of  those  who  deal  out  the 
poison  ?  Not  in  the  slightest  degree.  But  why,  you  ask,  can- 
not they  go  to  work  now,  and  crush  the  accursed  system  without 
waiting  for  some  awful  occurrence,  such  as  I  have  predicted  ? 
Because,  although  they  know  the  nature  and  guilt  of  the  system, 
they  want  feeling  and  will ;  and  the  sight  of  the  mutilated  body 
of  a  poor  wife,  who  had  been  butchered  by  her  drunken  and 
maddened  husband,  would  excite  both  feeling  and  will.  These 
are  often  as  necessary  to  the  proper  performance  of  our  duties 
as  is  knowledge. 


A   DISTILLER'S   CONSOLATION. 

NEWTON  CORNER,  June  14,  1845. 
FRIEND  KIMBALL  :  — 

AFTER  reaching  the  village  of  Fitchburg  by  railroad,  I  took 
my  seat  in  the  stage,  which  was  just  about  to  leave  for  Green- 


200  A   DISTILLER  S   CONSOLATION. 

field.  A  ru  n-seller  from  the  vicinity  of  Greenfield  occupied  a 
seat  near  me.  While  quietly  regarding  the  group  of  citizens 
assembled  around  the  stage-house  door,  he  was  recognized  by 
one,  who,  it  seems,  was  an  old  acquaintance.  In  an  instant  that 
friend  was  at  the  side  of  the  stage,  and,  after  a  shake  of  the 
hand,  and  the  usual  salutation,  inquired, — 

Mr.  T.    Well,  Mr.  A ,  how  go  matters  in  your  region? 

Mr.  A.  O,  they  have  brought  us  all  up,  and  wrung  our 
heads  square  off! 

Mr.  T.    What  do  you  mean  ? 

Mr.  A.   They  have  stopped  all  licenses  in  our  county. 

Mr.  T.  [With  a  look  of  deep  concern.]  Have  they,  indeed  ? 
Well,  what  are  you  going  to  do  ?  You  keep  on  selling,  I  suppose. 

Mr.  A.    No,  I  have  stopped  altogether. 

Mr.  T.    Have  the  taverns  stopped,  too  ? 

Mr.  A.    O,  no  ;  they  sell,  just  as  before. 

Mr.  T.  [Brightening  up  a  little.]  That's  it !  If  one  does 
not  sell  it,  another  will.  It  don't  make  much  difference  in  the 
long  run. 

The  dialogue  was  here  interrupted,  for  the  driver's  whip 
cracked,  and  away  we  went. 

Who,  think  you,  friend  Kimball,  was  that  Mr.  T.  ?  It  was 
no  other  than  a  distinguished  distiller  of  your  city — Mr.  Trull. 
How  consoling  was  that  reflection  !  "  If  one  does  not  sell  it, 
another  will.  It  don't  make  much  difference  in  the  long  run." 
No,  Mr.  Trull,  your  hell-broth  will  sell  yet.  Keep  your  infernal 
tea-kettle  boiling,  and  you  will  find  men  at  remote  points  all 
over  the  country,  who  are  so  hardened  in  sin,  that  they  will  aid 
you  in  directing  the  poisonous  product  to  the  parched  throat  of 
the  poor  drunkard.  They  will  stand  along  the  line  of  opera- 
tions leading  from  your  distillery  to  the  inflamed  stomachs  of 
perishing  men,  and  pass  along  the  fiery  product.  The  work 
will  go  on,  until  an  outraged  community  shall  shut  you,  and  the 
miserable  satellites  who  revolve  around  you  and  do  your  bid- 
dings, in  the  cells  of  those  prisons  now  thronged  by  your  mis- 
erable victims ! 


A   VISIT    TO    THE    SPIRITS    IN    PRISON.  201 


A  VISIT   TO   THE   SPIRITS    IN    PRISON. 

WHILE  walking  down  the  streets  of  Portland,  a  few  days 
since,  in  company  with  the  very  efficient  mayor  of  that  beau- 
tiful city,  I  was  invited  to  step  with  him  across  the  street  and 
take  a  look  at  the  imprisoned  "  spirits  "  shut  up  in  durance 
vile  beneath  the  City  Hall.  I  accepted  the  invitation,  and  in 
a  moment  found  myself  in  a  large  basement  room,  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  the  imprisoned  fiends  which,  under  the  recent- 
ly enacted  and  most  righteous  law  of  the  state,  had  been 
arrested  in  their  march  from  the  mouth  of  the  still  to  the 
mouths  of  the  wretched  men  who  had  become  already  so  far 
demonized  as  to  desire  the  further  acquaintance  and  compan- 
ionship of  the  liquid  devils.  Three  or  four  extensive  seizures 
of  the  spirits  had  been  made,  and  here  they  were  all  gathered 
in  one  group ;  and  a  sorry-looking  group  it  was.  Their  sad 
plight,  piled  on  each  other's  backs  around  the  apartment,  re- 
called the  language  of  Hamlet  to  the  skull  of  poor  Yorick  :  — 

"  Where  be  your  gibes  now  ?  your 
Gambols  ?  your  songs  ?  your  flashes  of  merriment 
That  were  wont  to  set  the  table  in  a  roar  ?    .    .    . 
.    .    .     Quite  chapfallen." 

I  looked  upon  the  strong  oak  casks,  some  of  them  iron 
bound,  and  thought  how  fortunate  it  was  that  the  hands  of 
government  had  arrested  them  before  their  fiery  and  demon- 
izing  contents  had  got  spilled  into  the  stomachs  of  some  of  its 
poor  deluded  subjects.  Long  and  ardently  I  had  desired  to  see 
the  government,  in  true  paternal  regard  for  its  suffering  poor, 
and  for  the  thousands  who  are  being  hurled  by  the  liquor  traf- 
fic to  ruin,  exert  its  power  promptly  and  effectually  to  stay 
the  work  of  death.  And  here,  at  length,  I  am  permitted  to  see 
the  master  spirit  of  mischief,  the  giant  curse  of  the  civilized 
world,  chained.  A  feeling  of  exultation  was  kindled  within  me, 
which  I  have  no  words  adequately  to  express.  Aha  !  thought 
I ;  you  who,  with  your  kindred  spirits,  have  sent  thousands  to 


202  A   VISIT    TO   THE    SPIRITS    IN    PRISON. 

the  watch  house,  to  the  jail,  and  to  the  prison  ;  who  have 
bolted  the  doors  upon  thousands  of  my  brethren,  and  shut 
them  out  from  the  society  of  their  families  and  the  world, 
have  gotten  into  the  limboes  yourself!  The  angel  of  justice 
has  at  length  come  down, "  with  a  great  chain  in  his  hand,"  and 
bound  you.  Here  you  await  your  trial,  and  if  condemned,  as 
you  probably  will  be,  you  shall  be  led  forth  to  execution, 
amid  the  rejoicings  of  an  injured  people,  and  your  blood  shall 
flow,  not,  as  ye  hoped,  down  the  parched  throats  of  men,  but 
down  the  gutters  and  through  the  city  sewers.  Well,  you  are 
in  a  good  way.  Mother  earth  and  the  waters  of  the  bay  can 
swallow  you  and  not  reel,  and  that  is  more  than  men  could  do. 

How  long  have  ye  trampled  on  laws  human  and  divine, 
taken  your  own  wild, wicked  way, and  gloried  in  your  might! 
Ye  laughed  at  "  restriction  "  and  "  regulation  ; "  but  stronger 
words  have  been  whispered  in  your  ears  by  the  legislature  of 
Maine — "  suppression,"  "  annihilation ; "  and  lo,  ye  pause  here 
to  consider  the  import  of  the  new  vocabulary.  Well,  ye  will 
learn  it,  no  doubt,  for  ye  are  apt  scholars.  But  how  will  your 
friends  and  adherents,  not  only  in  the  city,  but  among  the 
hills,  hear  the  news  of  your  capture  and  detention  ?  They 
have  hitherto  gloried  in  your  strength,  and  have  asked  exult- 
ingly,  "  Who  is  like  unto  the  beast  ?  Who  is  able  to  make 
war  against  him  ?  "  Maine  hath  answered  in  stern  and  de- 
cided tone,  and  —  ye  are  here  !  "  The  merchants  of  those 
things,  which  were  made  rich  by  thee,  shall  stand  afar 
off,  for  the  fear  of  thy  torment,  weeping,  and  wailing,  and 
crying,  Alas  !  .  .  .  For  in  one  hour  so  great  riches  have 
come  to  nought." 

What  varied  forms  have  ye  taken,  as  I  see  ye  here  in  your 
prison,  and  how  varied  your  destination !  Here  ye  swell  out 
in  great  bulk,  like  a  corpulent,  turtle-fed  alderman,  and  there 
ye  shrink  almost  to  the  dimensions  of  a  water  bucket.  Let 
me  look  at  your  names,  and  learn  whither  ye  were  bound. 
"American  Gin,  Parsonfield."  And  what  business  had  ye 
at  Parsonfield  ?  Did  the  parson  invite  you  to  visit  his  field  ? 


A   VISIT    TO    THE    SPIRITS    IN    PRISON.  203 

Nay,  verily.  He  would  sooner  have  sent  you  to  the  Potter's 
field.  But  to  Parsonfield  ye  were  going ;  and  for  what  ?  Ah, 
I  remember.  There  is  a  poor  widow  in  that  neighborhood, 
whose  husband  ye  slew,  and  whose  eldest  son  ye  have  poisoned, 
until  the  poor  lad  totters  as  he  walks.  His  brain  is  on  fire. 
He  talks  incoherently,  and  strange  fancies  possess  him. 
Sometimes  he  curses  the  mother  who  bore  him ;  and  those 
hands  which,  when  a  child,  she  pressed  in  hers  while  she 
prayed,  have  been  lifted  in  violence  against  her.  She  is  almost 
distracted  with  her  troubles,  and  knoweth  not  whither  to  turn 
for  relief.  Despair  has  sometimes  almost  taken  possession  of 
her  soul.  She  hateth  thee,  and  lifteth  her  eyes,  swollen  with 
weeping,  and  her  feeble  hands,  to  Heaven  against  thee.  And 
thou  wouldst  afflict  her  still  more  !  Heartless,  obdurate  devil ! 
Yes,  you  were  journeying  to  Parsonfield  for  that  purpose  ;  but 
the  angel  of  justice  met  thee,  and  —  thou  art  here.  How 
will  that  widow  rejoice  and  sing  when  she  shall  hear  the  glad 
tidings  of  thy  fall ! 

But  let  me  look  at  thy  brother  fiend.  "  N.  E.  Rum,  W. 
A.,  Bethel."  And  what  was  thy  errand  to  Bethel  ?  Jacob 
went  up  to  Bethel,  and  built  there  an  altar,  because  there  the 
Lord  met  him  in  the  time  of  his  troubles.  And  you,  too,  have 
built  an  altar  at  Bethel,  whereon  thou  dost  sacrifice  to 
strange  gods.  But  goats  and  bullocks  will  not  serve  thee  for 
sacrifices.  The  blood  of  our  sons,  "  the  expectancy  and  rose 
of  the  fair  state,"  is  smoking  upon  thine  altar  at  Bethel.  But 
thou  art  not  there.  Iron  bands  confine,  and  bolts  and  bars 
detain  thee.  Thine  altar  at  Bethel  will  grow  cold,  and  the 
sweet  waters  of  the  rejoicing  heavens  shall  wash  away  its  stains. 
"  Old  Madeira,  10  gallons,  Wm.  Baker,  Brunswick."  And 
you,  old  gentleman,  were  bound  for  Brunswick.  There  is  a 
college  at  Brunswick  ;  and  did  ye  covet  an  education  ?  "  No, 
ye  were  going  to  teach,  and  not  to  be  taught."  So  I  sup- 
posed. A  professor  of  infernal  mathematics  and  languages, 
en  route  for  Brunswick,  to  teach  the  young  men  big  oaths, 
subtraction  from  the  pocket,  multiplication  of  miseries,  and 


204  A    VISIT   TO   THE   SPIRITS   IN   PRISON. 

reduction  descending ;  ay,  and  to  add  thereto  important  in- 
struction in  your  rule  of  three  direct,  to  the  poorhouse,  the 
prison,  and  the  drunkard's  grave.  Verily,  a  rule  of  three,  and 
as  direct  as  one  could  desire.  And  "  you  give  instructions  in 
navigation."  Ay,  I  have  seen  your  pupils  making  trial  of 
their  skill ;  and  was  it,  indeed,  an  interesting  exhibition  ? 

But  let  us  make  the  acquaintance  of  your  next  neighbor, 
Mr.  St.  Croix.  And  you,  sir,  were  bound  to  Free-port,  but  — 
did  not  get  there.  It  was  not  a  '-''port  of  entry  "  for  you,  it 
seems,  with  all  its  freedom.  And  what  do  you  purpose  to  do 
now  ?  "  Wait  here  the  arrival  of  your  friends  from  Boston." 
Very  well ;  we  pledge  you  the  word  of  the  mayor  and  city 
marshal,  that  your  friends  shall  visit  you  here,  immediately 
on  their  arrival.  Farewell  to  your  devilship  ;  keep  cool,  and 
learn  "  the  uses  of  affliction." 


UNIVERSITY   OF 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY, 
BERKELEY 


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46  "- 


.PR  iu  •"- 
UN  02 1989 


RECTO  LD 

SEP27'63-UAI 


NOV  3  o 


lOm-4,'23 


YP   D7A9! 


* 


